Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Oni Press | Tagged: Crypt Keeper, ec comics

3 New EC Comics Horror Hosts Debut in Oni's Epitaphs From The Abyss

The Grave-Digger, The Tormentor, and The Grim Inquisitor will take over the Crypt-Keeper, Old Witch, and Vault-Keeper for EC Comics

Yes, retailers: That is indeed the sound of Oni Press hammering your inboxes for yet another week with word on the publisher's forthcoming revival of the "infamous and influential" EC Comics publishing line with July's Epitaphs from the Abyss #1 and August's Cruel Universe #1 — with FOC for the first book coming up this Monday at Diamond and Lunar…

So it is with a suitable sense of urgency that, after announcing a battery of initiatives for the upcoming launches – including deep returnability for retailers across both series' first three issues and, interestingly, a firm "no second printings" policy – Oni is weighing in today with a big piece of news to add to its star-studded roster of forthcoming EC comics creators that already includes Jason Aaron, Brian Azzarello, Charlie Adlard, Rodney Barnes, Lee Bermejo, Corinna Bechko, Christopher Cantwell, Jorge Fornes, J. Holtham, Klaus Janson, David Lapham, Matt Kindt, Stephanie Phillips, Riley Rossmo, Greg Smallwood, Jay Stephens, and many more.

Breaking this afternoon, Oni has unveiled three all-new horror hosts – The Grave-Digger, The Tormentor, and The Grim Inquisitor – who will take on the ceremonial duties formerly held by Crypt-Keeper, Old Witch, and Vault-Keeper for the new slate of EC series beginning in the "double-sized, 40-page Epitaphs from the Abyss #1 arriving in comic shops worldwide on July 24th . . . and continue through multiple new EC horror series yet-to-be-revealed in the future."

Featuring character designs by Dustin Weaver (Avengers, SHIELD), these "all-new masters of menace" will making their first appearance on the Epitaphs from the Abyss #1 1:100 "Horror Host Variant, also appropriately illustrated by Weaver:

Said Weaver of his designs: "Usually a big part of designing characters is costuming, but in looking back at the original Tales From the Crypt comics, it's clear that the most important and defining features of the horror hosts are their ghoulish faces. It's all about the faces, and with these modern host designs I wanted to carry on that tradition. Making sure the faces were suitably fiendish, properly cruel, and the right amount of unseemly was key, but there's also an effort here to go a step further and bring some more thought and characterization to their costuming and physicality as well. Ultimately, it's just such a treat to draw characters so unabashedly wicked."

Added Corey Mifsud, Executive Director of William M. Gaines Agent, Inc. and Gaines' grandson: "Crafted from the dead center of depravity and delight, these new horror hosts are primed and ready to assume their roles as storytellers. "All three characters honor the creepily comical spirit of EC, but contribute uniquely twisted points of views that will surely keep the reader up at night!"

Oni's Epitaphs from the Abyss #1 is on FOC this weekend and will arrive in stores on July 24th, just in time for San Diego Comic Con.

You can see the series' covers by Lee Bermejo and Andrea Sorrentino below, along with lettered interior preview pages of two stories from the first issue – "Killer Spec" by J. Holtham & Jorge Fornes and "Family Values" by Stephanie Phillips & Phil Hester here:

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