If you’ve been following the release of Dark Horse’s EC Archive hardcovers, this one might be a bit of a twist: Modern Love
It’s love stories done the EC way, from 1949 and 1950. And yes, things have changed a tad since then (OK Boomer!). But the essentials of a story and the nature of men and women remain steadfastly the same now as 70 (Gasp, Choke) years ago. Love is still love, we have just redesigned the wrapper. Rebranded it.
There are some amazing scenes of love, bitterness, cheating, two-timing, galivantin’, and happiness. Some stories that seem to have been ‘ripped from the headlines’ as they used to say. And some fun, fabricated fancies of male and female courtship, wayyy before the Courtship of Eddie’s Father. It’s love in all its function and dysfunction. Not as gruesome as mainstream EC horror, of course, but actually seamier and creepier from time to time!
This book reprints the complete contents of Modern Love issues 1-8, including covers, ads and advice columns. Many of the stories’ writers are unknown, but Al Feldstein and science fiction writer Gardner Fox (The Flash, etc) are credited for some. Artists include Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Graham Ingles, Harry Harrison and Wally Wood, and Jack Kamen.
Be sure to check out the foreword by Jacque Nodell, whose grandfather was Mart Nodell, the creator of Green Lantern. Also, the very last story in the series is especially entertaining; it’s about a comic book company that ventures into creating, yes, Romance Comics!
Dark Horse: EC Archives, Modern Love Hardcover, 280 pages for $49.99 Assume Teen +
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