| Title | : | Came the Dawn and Other Stories |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1606995464 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781606995464 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 |
| Publication | : | First published November 15, 2012 |
| Awards | : | Harvey Awards Best Domestic Reprint Project (2013) |
Taking its title from one of Wood's all-time classics, the evil little paranoid thriller "Came the Dawn," this collection features page after page after page of Wood's sleek and meticulously crafted artwork put in the service of cunning twist-ending stories, most often from the typewriter of EC editor Al Feldstein.
These tales range from supernatural shockers from the pages of Tales From the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear ("The Living Corpse," "Terror Ride," "Man From the Grave," "Horror in the Freak Tent") to often pointedly contemporary crime thrillers from Crime SuspenStories ("The Assault," "The Whipping," and "Confession," which was singled out for specific excoriation in the anti-comics screed Seduction of the Innocent, thus giving it a special cachet), but the breathtaking art and whiplash-inducing shock endings are constants throughout.
Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC line, "Came the Dawn!" will feature extensive essays and notes on these classic stories by EC experts -- but the real "meat" of the matter (sometimes literally, in the grislier stories) will be supplied by these ofted lurid, sometimes downright over-the-top, but always compelling and superbly crafted, classic comic-book masterpieces.
Came the Dawn and Other Stories Reviews
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Came the Dawn and Other Stories is a black and white collection of all of Wally Wood's crime and horror stories from EC Comics.
My teaser sums it up pretty well. Came the Dawn presents Wood's crime and horror works in chronological order in stark black and white. While I prefer Wood's science fiction work for EC, it's damn good.
It's interesting watching Wood improve as an artist as the collection rolls forward. The stories all have the trademark EC "bite you in the ass" ending. Some of the stories, particularly the early ones, are only average. The title story is one of the standouts, the tale of a man arriving at his woodland cabin to find the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. But there's also reports of a woman having escaped from an insane asylum nearby...
Some of the stories are a product of their time, with the women being femme fatale liars, but there are a handful of progressive tales that still have an impact today. Bill Gaines wasn't shy about pointing out the evils of racism and ignorance. Anyone who says the comics of yesteryear weren't political needs to read this collection.
I've seen some people put off by the black and white artwork but I think stripping away the color shows how good Wally Wood's artwork was. He was as at home drawing rotting corpses as he was buxom women. His use of perspective was great and he also drew some realistic looking '50s cars. Basically, the man could do it all and did a lot of it in this volume.
Fantagraphics did a great job with this so I'll be seeking out the rest of their EC reprints. Came the Dawn is an easy four star book. -
This was absolutely wonderful to read. There were hit and miss stories but the hits were out of the park and the misses had great artwork. All stories in the book were drawn by Wally Wood at EC Comics in the early 1950s. The first few were on the horror side and were mostly average reads. Then we get to the crime stories.
HAHAHAHAHA YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The crime stories were pretty damn fresh. For the time period especially. There was either a solid ending or a serious anti hate message with a solid ending. These are pre-civil rights movement anti racism stories. Great stuff. Highly recommended.
The cream of the crop 5 star stories are as follows:
Death's Double-Cross
The Man From The Grave!
The Guilty!
Confession
Hate!
The Bribe!
Solid 4s:
The Curse of Harkley Heath
Faced With Horror!
Under Cover!
In Gratitude!
The Whipping
The Confidant -
Beginning in the late 40s through the mid-50s, Wallace "Wally" Wood created memorable stories for the legendary EC stable of crime, horror, and science fiction comics. Came the Dawn and Other Stories collects all 26 of Woods horror and crime tales from that period. The initial stories, usually with the aide of artistic partner Harry Harrison (the same one who later created The Stainless Steel Rat) and written by Gardner Fox, offered fairly run of the mill horror riffs on werewolves, ghosts, and the like. The relatively crude art pales in comparison to Wood's later brilliance but the occasional extraordinary image or panel crops up. The first story to offer a glimpse of the future EC and Wood tales, the Al Feldstein-scripted "Death's Double-Cross" delivers an excellent romantic thrill that effectively showcases Wood's talents. The creepy "Judy, You're Not Yourself" ushered in a sea change in the quality of stories. The tale effectively shatters the illusions of the supposed idyllic suburban life in a story that could only be described as an EC-type tale. The further stories tackle controversial topics such as racism, anti-semitism, police brutality, and sexual morality, all subjects that were not discussed openly in the uptight, restrictive morality of 50s polite society. Beautifully crafted, as typical for a Fantagraphics book, Came the Dawn and Other Stories showcases the creative evolution of one of the true masters of the form. Further rounding out this excellent collection are an introductory essay examining each story, creator bios, and a short history of EC Comics.
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Extraordinarily good. Absolutely sumptuous linework and what a treat it is to watch a career progress in such a marvellous way in a small volume like this. The stories were radical for their time and still twisty enough to thrill a modern reader. -
Picked this up from the library not knowing anything about it. It's a collection of comics from the 1950s that happened to be illustrated by the same man - Wallace Wood, who is fairly famous for the EC comics of the time. They are all written by various authors. This makes a pretty nice coffee table book, especially for comics collectors and historians.
The illustrations are really great, I liked them a lot. But the writing was just so bad. Each comic is only 4-5 pages or slightly longer and I think there are about 18 comics, with some other writing about Wood and such. The forward while started off as a bit about wood just turned into a paragraph synopsis of each comic, which was rather pointless, in my opinion.
I DNF this because I just couldn't take the stories. They are written like the worst B-Movies of the era, both in the suspense genre as well as the horror stories. It's a little like Twilight Zone in style, but more cheezy. I read the first half a dozen or more and then read the titular comic, hoping that the later ones would be better, but they just weren't. Since I was looking forward to reading something else I didn't want to continue wasting my time. -
Uneven! Still, the quality of the second half, as well as it's historical importance, makes this worthwhile. There is a break in the chronology here: you get a years worth of horror work, (much of it with Harry Harrison), then a year break (Wood was doing Sci Fi and war), then two years worth of 'preachies'.
The artistic growth here is obvious, and quite stunning. Some of the work, like the splash page for "Scared to Death", looks great in black and white. Not all of it, though. The white facial bandages in "Faces with Horror", for example, don't shock like they do in color. Wood's style, sophisticated as it is, just doesn't punch you in the eyeballs in black and white the same way that, say, Graham Ingels or Jack Davis do. The 'editorial' tone of this work is well suited, and beautifully detailed; emotional rendering of certain faces and figures puts the best of this firmly in the realm of fine art. But some of it is just feels like work.
The writing similarly goes up and down in quality, but the best, including "The Guilty", "Hate", "Under Cover" "So Shall Ye Reap" are undeniably powerful. The sexual paranoia of "The Assault" and Came the Dawn" also ring very true, if not to contemporary attitudes, then to Woods own romantic difficulties.
It sorta hurts to give only three stars, but there are only about six or seven stories that rate five stars. To be honest, the average of good to great work is very similar in Wood's Sci Fi collection "Spawn of Mars", but at least in that book, even the most mediocre stories have more radically groundbreaking art. They definitely should have put the Harrison work at the end of this book, as they did in that one. This collection is easier to admire than enjoy, for me anyways. Still glad to have it. -
This is the first of Fantagraphics' artist-centric EC volumes I've sat down with. Came the Dawn focuses on Wally Wood's illustration work on EC's crime, suspense, and horror comics, as well as their famous "Preachies," moralizing tales of injustice and human cruelty. (Most all of these comics feature writing by Al Feldstein.)
The collection starts out a little slow as the artist and writers come to grips with ECs New Trend, but quickly becomes top-rate. Many of Wood's EC classics are included here, including "Came the Dawn", "In Gratitude", and "Blood Brothers." Some of the stories are predictable, especially once you catch on to the trademark EC "twist endings," but that doesn't diminish either the quality of the work (especially for its time) or the enjoyment of reading these ground-breaking comics.
Includes historical and biographical essays. -
I would say this is a very solid collection, if you keep in mind that all of the stories collected in it were originally published in the 50s. That said, about half of the stories are more "supernatural" horror, while the other half is straight up, very clearly, regular people being evil, which I didn't expect and the shift felt a bit jarring.
The more "supernatural" stories are mostly campy fun, the others... they're heavy, they're very heavy, friends.
I will say, if racism against black people, racism against Latino people, antisemitism, murder, suicide, sexual assault, child abuse, or the KKK existing are triggers for you, I would suggest you stay clear. Those topics are handled as well as they could have been in the 50s (and generally condemned), but they are also graphically on the page.
If misogyny is a trigger, well, I guess you can live safely knowing that even when men in the 50s had somewhat progressive views on other social issues, they still hated women...
More detailed thoughts on some of the stories, spoilers ahead I guess: -
Some of these stories are very melodramatic in the way 1950s comics often are, but many of them are also very politically charged and provocative for the time they came out. EC was definitely on the right side of 20th century history and its creators and editors were artistically bold. And of course Wallace Wood is one of the all-time comic greats.
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When I think of EC, I think of horror comics which is what the first half of the book is. Then it veered into tales of crime which read like secular versions of Chick tracts. There's robed vigilantes, corrupt policemen, beatings, and lynching. Wood was quite good at drawing average people filled with hate. My personal favorite was a split screen--left side of the page was the parents wondering where they went wrong with their son, right side showing the son reflecting on how his parents strictness and hypocrisy caused him to rebel.
The book has a good introduction giving details of each story. I stopped reading it when I realized it was full of spoilers, then went back and read it after I finished the comics. I enjoyed the background information but think it would have been more logical to do a page of it after each story than a big chunk at the start of the book. I enjoy ebooks for comics, but they aren't really conducive to flipping back and forth within a book. -
Awesome. Not only was Wood one of the best comic artists of all time, but also one of the most influential. His selected work (though lacking his Science Fiction tales) represent his best. The horror is solid, but it is his politically charged stories that hit the hardest. This book shows a side of EC that many people have forgotten or never knew existed. These stories are way ahead of their time and show a fledgeling comic publisher at its best. EC was undoubtedly cut down too soon but the mark on comic history it left behind is a huge one. Once again Fantagraphics does an incredible job, this volume is printed beautifully and even includes essays, a foreword, and comic by comic analysis by historians and critics. I would equate it to a Norton Critical Edition, or a Criterion DVD release. Hopefully the other EC Library editions are this good, I can't wait for the rest to be released!
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If this book was rated by Wallace Wood's drawings alone, it would demand all five stars as by right. Wood's drawings are simply superb. He is one of the best illustrators I have ever seen, and as a comic book artist he has few equals. So from that point of view alone, this book is worth reading. Unfortunately, the quality of the writing does not live up to Wood's drawing skills. The stories are usually basic, the characterisations inept, the dialogue laughable. Many of the stories have a social reforming aspect to them, being directed against the KKK and other such reactionary forces of the day (these largely date from the fifties). Worth reading overall, largely because of the drawings.
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This volume shows why Wally Wood is considered one of the greatest comic artists of all time. Beautiful linework is featured throughout, and presents an artist who was pursuing his craft at a time when this type of work was not appreciated. Since this is a chronological look at Wood's work, the early pieces are a bit weaker than the later ones, but still interesting as a basis for his growth. From a personal viewpoint, Wood's use of shadows (especially with heads) was a huge influence on my own artwork. I'd love to see a followup volume featuring his Science Fiction artwork.
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This is a review of the format and not the content. The stories and art are all sublime and rate 5 stars. The format leaves much to be desired.
The size of the books in this series are a bit smaller than comic books. So all the artwork is reduced from the original. It's in black and white. No color here. All of these stories ARE available in the EC Archive Editions that are in full color in a extra large size.
Might not be true for the whole series but these stories are available elsewhere in better books. I'd avoid this edition. -
Wood may be the undisputed king of line on paper, and this volume is beautifully bound. I have to take off a star because, although it's clear that Fantagraphics aimed to display a chronology of Wood's progress as a draftsman, I'd just assume have a full book of his prime work. Here, the first 1/3 of the book exhibits earlier, less adept illustrations.
Still and all, a integral part of any serious collection of vintage comic art. -
Fascinating look at the popular works of Wallace Wood in the 1960's. One gets an insight into America at that time and all th sexism, antisemitism and racism that implies. Besides from the political overtones, his Shock Suspense stories are stunning, even by today's standards. I had never heard of Wood before, but this collection is not only insightful historically, but a must read for any comics fan.
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The writing for most of these stories are pretty predictable, classic plots, characters, and twists of the noir and horror genres. With a few stories poignant to the times they were written.
Absolutely amazing lush illustrations from Wallace Wood. That is what makes this collection of strips worthwhile. -
Brilliant, tragic, captivating, shocking, gorgeous, compelling, campy, weird and wonderful. I can't choose a favourite but reading those social commentary issues from the 50s was incredible.
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http://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.co... -
Fantagraphics' artists editions are among the absolute best reproductions of EC comics out there ... essential series.
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Excellent collection. Includes socially conscious stories that deal with race, religion, mob justice and more. In glorious black and white.
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Amazing, loved reading these comic stories, shocking and gripping, much enjoyment obtained from reading this.
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Wally Wood's art work is superb but the stories, like most short story collections, are largely hit or miss.
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One can't go wrong with a comic illustrated by Wally Wood.
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I've never really understood why comics caused such a stir back in the fifties that there was even a public hearing and the industry felt compelled to inflict self censorship in the form of the Comics Code. Sure I have read some reprints of EC comics but without understanding what the fuzz was really all about. Reading the latter half of this volume, containing stories from Shock SuspenStories, however things become clear. These stories tell of an America the authorities probably did not want to think about. These stories are about public officials that can be bribed, cops that force a confession out of an innocent bystander or shoot a suspect when evidence is lacking. They tell of racism against Jews, Hispanics, and African-Americans. They tell of a war hero that feels betrayed by his home town. They tell of seemingly ordinary middle class men prepared to don hoods, burn crosses and beat people to death.
The message from the creators is clear racism is wrong, forming vigilante bands is a bad idea, and nothing good will come from hate. Despite this it is understandable that these comics were considered subversive at the time especially if they were seen as intended for children. The pages in this volume were published between 1950 and 1954, before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat (1955) or Martin Luther King delivered his "I have a dream" speech (1963). Of course men in power at the time felt threatened by these stories, it must have been obvious to them that when racism and injustice were exposed in an accessible form like this people would not find it acceptable and that they themselves would be held accountable. Thus it should not be surprising that Fredric Wertham after publishing his 1954 book "Seduction of the innocent" was considered an expert and was called to testify about the dangers of reading comics. (There, a nice little conspiracy theory for you.)
From an artistic point of view this volume shows Wood's development from a somewhat rough line in the early stories towards the slick line for which he is known. Some of the panels are really beautiful and the use of black to create moods works very well. The text is sometimes almost overflowing. The format is limited to seven pages and it seems the creators preferred cramming more text in rather than cutting parts of the story to give more room for the artwork. Although the stories have horrifying themes the endings have a twist meaning to turn the story around and shake up the reader. However, when reading a collection like this the endings tend to be somewhat predictable; e.g. of course the angry man beats his own daughter to death when he think he his whipping her lover.
All in all these comics are not fantastic all of them but some of them really provides a look back in time and for that and for Wood's fantastic art they are well worth reading. Also, the message that racism is wrong and that nothing good will come from hate it as relevant now as it was back then.
