The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #34

In "A Mistake In Multiplication," a crew of spacemen stumbles upon a derelict vessel holding grotesque alien life in suspended animation. After bringing the ship back to Earth, scientists attempt to study the creatures—only to find them multiplying at an alarming rate, defying expectations when it's revealed they reproduce asexually. As the situation spirals beyond control, two of the aliens escape into the world, setting off a terrifying chain reaction that threatens to overwhelm humanity.

In "The Planetoid," a crew of space explorers lands on a tiny world only to be overwhelmed by swarming, insect-sized inhabitants—and then attacked by darting, stinging objects that seem to come from nowhere. What begins as a routine survey spirals into a disorienting encounter that upends everything they thought they knew about scale, identity, and where they truly are.

In "Not On the Menu," a stranded crew endures months on a hostile planet, starving as their rations dwindle and the local food proves deadly. With desperation mounting, the captain makes a shocking claim: the poison is safe to eat, and he’s treated it himself. As the crew follows his order, the truth behind his sacrifice begins to unfold—just as the ship’s reactor powers back on.

In a quiet moment of reflection, Raymond Williams Jr. finds himself unexpectedly thrust 25 years into the past, uncovering long-buried truths about his father’s sudden departure. As he navigates the memories and choices that shaped his family’s history, he begins to unravel a mystery that blurs the line between past and present, father and son.

In the vast unknown of a colossal alien world, Vaughn and the crew of a crashed spaceship face a terrifying new threat: a giant space worm that preys on their fears and exploits their cruelty to animals. As the line between predator and prey blurs, Vaughn must confront the consequences of their actions in a place where survival demands more than strength—it demands reckoning.

In "The Thing in the Jar," scientists confront a horrifying discovery: an intelligent liquid lifeform thriving in Mr. Dorsey's pond, absorbing the knowledge of every creature it dissolves. As they prepare to destroy the pond with flaming oil, a small sample—meant for study—slips through a crack in the lab's defenses when a cleaning lady dumps it down the drain.

In "The Monsters!", three scientists—Hinkel, Alex, and Herman—along with stenographer Jennings, find themselves entangled in a startling revelation when two seemingly monstrous aliens arrive on Earth. To the scientists, the newcomers appear as grotesque creatures, but to the aliens, they’re ordinary humans—raising urgent questions about perception, fear, and what it truly means to be a monster.

In a future where women have taken over every job and run society, men are now expected to stay home, raise children, and give birth—redefining what it means to be a man in a world turned upside down. "A Man's Job!" explores the quiet tension and shifting roles in a society where gender norms have been completely reversed.

In "Say Your Prayers," two intelligent preying mantises arrive on Earth to study humanity—only to be horrified by a photograph of pinned specimens in a collector’s display. The sight of their own kind preserved and labeled sends them fleeing back to their homeworld, convinced Earth is ruled by monstrous beings who hunt their kind.

In "Don't Count Your Chickens...", a young boy’s Easter egg hunt takes a bizarre turn when he discovers a strange egg that speaks to him mind-to-mind, urging him to hide it in a secret cave. What hatches from the egg is no ordinary creature—cone-shaped and ravenous—and soon the boy is caught in a desperate game of survival as the alien grows, driven by hunger, and begins to stalk the countryside. When his parents send him to summer camp, the creature’s rampage escalates, leading to a fiery end at the hands of the military. But as the story closes, a chilling new pattern begins: children all across America are finding similar eggs during their own hunts.

Bart Thompson, a TV engineer, finds himself drawn to a mysterious signal from a planet eighty light years away—only to have his world upended when the woman from the transmission arrives in a rocketship, towering at 200 feet. With Jack handling the sound and Lara watching from the sidelines, Bart must confront the impossible: a love that defies scale, distance, and reality itself.

In a near-future lab, a nuclear leak sparks an unexpected evolution in the local rat population. As two scientists grapple with the implications of their time machine, they catch a glimpse of a startling future: rats have risen to dominance, speaking English, wearing clothes, and having erased both humans and cats from the world.

In "The Expert!", EC Comics editors Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein seek out a supposed authority on Mars to help shape a new story—only to be stunned when their skeptical expert reveals a truth far stranger than fiction. The line between imagination and reality blurs in this clever, sharp-witted sci-fi tale from the Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library.

In a pinch, EC Comics editors Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein whip up a fake ad for a Mars trip to fill a blank page—only years later, they’re stunned to meet a man who swears he actually took the journey, thanks to their fictional pitch, and now lives with his four-armed, three-eyed wife.

In a future where marriage licenses must be renewed every three years, Alec Craven—a robot—hires Dianne Masters to be his wife for the term, strictly for appearances. As their arrangement unfolds, Dianne finds herself growing attached, unaware that Alec’s motives are far more transactional than emotional. When she plans to extend their union by claiming she’s expecting, he reveals the truth: he’s not human, and their relationship was never about love.

In "Bum Steer!", a lone cowboy finds himself among a group of humans abducted by bizarre, horse-like aliens on a distant world. Forced into a bizarre feeding ritual that feels increasingly sinister, he tries to warn the others they’re being treated like livestock—until the truth becomes impossible to ignore.

In "Revulsion!", a weary captain grumbles about his roach-infested spaceship, recalling a past dinner with a surprise bug in his salad. When the ship crashes on an alien world, the crew discovers a civilization of giant, clothed insects—only to be scooped up and prepared as a meal for their king, who is utterly repulsed by the discovery of human flesh in his salad.

In a twist of cosmic irony, a furrier and his assistant embark on a interstellar journey with a rocket pilot and his wife, only to discover that the planet they've come to harvest skunks is home to aliens who view humans as the ultimate fashion statement. What begins as a routine fur run quickly spirals into a chilling game of predator and prey, where the roles are far from what they seem.

In a satirical twist on democracy, a nationwide election sees voters abandon traditional candidates in favor of Allie—the beloved handpuppet from a children’s show—only to discover the puppet is secretly a parasitic alligator creature using its puppeteer as a host, with far more sinister plans than entertainment.

In "Mass Meeting!", a Martian uranium tycoon’s ambitious plan to mine Venus for its rich uranium deposits sets off a chain reaction with cosmic consequences. When he begins teleporting the ore to Mars, the shifting planetary masses begin to destabilize their orbits—sending both worlds on a collision course with Earth.

In "The Green Thing!", a mysterious alien lifeform emerges from a crashed spaceship near a quiet farm, infecting first a dog and then a mare with its pulsing green essence. As paranoia spreads among the family, the son devises a clever test using a red filter to uncover the hidden host—only to realize the true danger may be closer than anyone imagined.