The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #37

In "Uppercut!", a brutal boxing match spirals into a chilling act of revenge when a desperate fighter, Herby Dixon, steals a drug meant to mimic death—only to find the line between life and illusion dangerously thin. As the fight promoter Joe Wiley lies in a morgue, unaware of the gruesome fate awaiting him, the truth of what’s been done begins to unravel in the cold silence of the autopsy room.

In "This Little Piggy...", the Crypt-Keeper spins a chilling tale of colonial arrogance and retribution, set in occupied India. A British officer, dismissive of local taboos, kills a sacred boar and serves it at dinner with an apple in its mouth—only to face a grim fate when the villagers return the favor.

In a quiet town where fear lingers like dust, Lionel Byrd drives his eerie brass hearse through the streets, drawing stares and whispers. The Crypt-Keeper introduces a tale of a man whose past is stitched to the dead, a secret hidden behind a curtain in the back of his vehicle—and a truth that defies life itself.

Victor Benson has a chilling secret: his wife Helen’s body is stored in the meat locker, and he’s been waiting for the perfect moment to get rid of it. When his friend Ed invites him to dinner, Victor assumes it’s just another evening—until a bite of meat reveals a horrifying truth. The Johnsons know more than they should, and Victor’s carefully laid plans are unraveling faster than he ever imagined.

In "Death of Some Salesmen!", The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of a stranded salesman whose misfortune leads him to the unsettling home of an old couple with a very particular way of testing their appliances—each one, it seems, was perfected using the last man who sold it. As the man pleads for his life, the couple’s quiet domestic routine masks a gruesome ritual, and the salesman’s final words hang in the air as the old man returns with a device that’s far too sharp for any ordinary household.

In "The Chips Are Down!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of greed and retribution, where Sigmund Darby, Averill Henning, and Dilbert Field find themselves entangled in a sinister government contract to produce 60,000 wooden discs a month. As the partners scheme to steal from each other, a rigged poker game leads to a tragic end—only for the dead man’s vengeance to rise from the grave in the most gruesome way imaginable.

In "The Coffin!", the Crypt-Keeper spins a chilling tale of a man who builds a self-operating coffin to cut funeral costs—only to find it has a far more sinister purpose than mere convenience. When his idle brother dares to test the machine, the coffin’s automated rituals turn deadly, revealing a gruesome twist in its otherwise solemn function.

In "Let's Play Poison!", The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of guilt and retribution, where a haunted teacher named Mr. Howard is tormented by a skull that appears outside his window night after night. Once a man broken by a student’s death, he now sees his own name carved into a sidewalk grave—just as the children he despises continue their eerie game of poison, unbothered by the silence that follows.

In "Garden Party," the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of domestic tension gone horribly wrong: a man hosts a barbecue in his wife’s meticulously tended garden, only to see his guests trample her beloved flowers. When she snaps under the strain, her calm demeanor shatters, and she turns with a carving knife, ready to serve her husband on the very grill he so carelessly ruined.

In a chilling tale from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #37, the Crypt-Keeper introduces a gruesome mystery: seven women slain with doughnut-shaped wounds, their blood drained and traces of sea brine on their skin. When crime reporter Danny Hughes scoffs at the police’s confusion, his own secretary Pat is murdered in the same manner—leaving him haunted by a fleeting shadow near her home. Following the trail to an aquarium, Danny confronts a monstrous truth: a blood-sucking octopus has been stalking the city.

In "The Black Ferris!", two boys stumble upon a sinister carnival attraction where a cursed ferris wheel can bend time with each spin—forward or back. When a thief exploits the wheel to become a child and infiltrate the home of a kind-hearted woman, the boys race to stop him before he vanishes into the future. With the Crypt-Keeper’s chilling narration setting the tone, this eerie tale of time, deception, and justice unfolds in seven spine-tingling pages.

In "A Peach of a Plot!", The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of love, greed, and a tree that remembers. When Lieutenant Dolan investigates a strange peach tree on a wealthy man’s estate, he uncovers a gruesome secret buried beneath its roots—and a confession that may finally reveal the fate of a woman who vanished years ago. As the fruit holds a terrible truth, the line between past and present blurs in a garden where even the smallest seed can grow into a deadly revelation.

In "Foul Play!", The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale where the game of baseball takes a grotesque turn—vengeance leads to horror when a player’s betrayal with poisoned cleats sparks a gruesome act of retribution, turning the field into a twisted playing ground. The story’s dark twist on sports rivalry delivers a pulse-pounding, unsettling ride that lingers long after the final out.

In "Out of His Head!", Alex Melton’s guilt over murdering his law partner Stanley takes a terrifying turn when the dead man seems to haunt him at every turn. After blinding himself in a desperate bid to escape the visions, Alex is hospitalized—only to face a final, horrifying revelation when the bandages are removed. The Crypt-Keeper warns that some crimes never stay buried, and some minds can’t survive the weight of their own secrets.

In "Hyde and Go Shriek!", The Crypt-Keeper spins a tale of hubris and hidden darkness, where a desperate chemist attempts to recreate the infamous Jekyll and Hyde formula for a wealthy admirer. When the experiment goes awry—his own test of the serum turning him into a monster—he finds himself trapped in a nightmare he never saw coming.

In a quiet town where curiosity about death runs deep, a group of children’s innocent questions about punishment take a chilling turn when a missing boy is reported—only to be found moments later, buried beneath a freshly dug grave. The Crypt-Keeper sets the scene with a tale that blurs the line between justice and retribution, as townsfolk confront the eerie aftermath of a child’s act of defiance.

In "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of greed and miscalculation, where a desperate doctor, Dr. Emil Manfred, grafts a cat’s nine lives gland into a derelict, Saxton, to fuel a dangerous stunt act. As the derelict revels in his newfound near-immortality, his ambition leads him to betray the doctor—only for Manfred to reveal a fatal flaw in the count, leaving Saxton with one less life than he thought.

In "The Welchers," two desperate cousins plot to murder their wealthy uncle to settle a dangerous debt, turning to a cruel trick with his insulin to end his life. When their plan unravels, the consequences come swiftly—faceless enforcers of the underworld deliver a brutal punishment that leaves no room for escape.

John Younger and Frank Weston thought they’d found the perfect scam—emptying wealthy homes while their owners were away. But when their latest mark, Mr. Kingman, takes a flight to Ecuador, their routine job turns into a nightmare they never saw coming. Down in the cellar, a door marked "T.C.K." leads to a hidden library and a labyrinth of horrors: zombies, vampires, werewolves, and mummies—all trapped in a house that shouldn’t exist. As the creatures close in, the two con men flee in terror, their minds unraveling with every step. When they finally burst through the front door, they don’t notice the man standing there—calm, amused, and waiting. The Crypt-Keeper has been home all along.

In "Tombs-Day!", the Crypt-Keeper welcomes listeners to a chilling tale of ancient dread, where Professor Burton and journalist Melody Allen brave the Pyramid of Khafra, haunted by the vanished expedition that came before. As they descend into the tomb’s winding passages, the air thick with danger, the legend of the living sphinx—once dismissed as myth—begins to feel terrifyingly real.

In "Country Clubbing!", The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of survival and twisted irony: a desperate convict, fleeing the swamp with a stolen meal, finds himself pursued by a relentless, club-wielding figure whose intentions are far more personal than they first appear. As the chase through the treacherous swamps unfolds, the line between hunter and hunted blurs in a way that leaves the fugitive—and the reader—unmoored.

In a chilling tale from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #37, Eric returns to Blumstedt with his new wife, Helena, sparking outrage from his former betrothed Alicia and her family. As suspicion and fear spread through the town, strange deaths follow Helena’s path—until a mob turns on her, only to be undone by a single, whispered incantation. The Crypt-Keeper introduces this haunting story of betrayal, belief, and the monstrous truth hidden beneath a familiar face.

In "Head-Room!", the Crypt-Keeper spins a chilling tale of obsession and dread, where a lonely landlady finds herself drawn to a mysterious tenant whose dark secret lies hidden behind a locked door. When she uncovers his grotesque collection of severed heads, her curiosity turns to terror—making her the latest in a long line of victims.

In "Chop Talk!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of vengeance and regret, where Emil Voight, condemned to die by the guillotine, learns too late that his executioner is Heinrich—the husband of the woman he murdered. As Emil faces his fate, the line between justice and torment blurs, and the horror only deepens when the dead begin to speak.

In "Coffin Spell!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of betrayal and dread as two grave robbers, Janos and Nadyi, dig up corpses for a mysterious doctor. After discovering a crypt teeming with the dead, they return to their home—only to find the coffins opening and the corpses rising, forcing them to confront a terrifying truth: one of them may already be among the undead.

In "Comes The Dawn!", The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of isolation and dread: a man trapped in an Arctic cabin, barricaded against a vampire outside, clings to the hope that sunrise will save him—until he recalls just how long the polar night can last.

In "A Work of Art!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of obsession and artistry, where a mortician, disillusioned by the soulless routines of his trade, constructs a robot to carry out his final rites with the precision and reverence he believes the job deserves. The story lingers in the shadow of a man who sees death not as an end, but as a canvas — and wonders if even a machine can understand the beauty he seeks.

In a future torn by war between the Western and Eastern Alliances, both sides race toward the Moon, only to find their ships shattered by an invisible barrier. As the truth unfolds, they realize the barrier encircles the entire Earth—imprisoning humanity not by force, but by design. The reason? A higher intelligence sees humans as wild animals, and caging them is the only way to protect the cosmos.

In "Marked Man," Commander Abel Grant faces a court-martial after a controversial decision during a deep-space mission—ordering the disposal of a dead Grand Admiral’s body to prevent alien contamination. As he reflects on two decades of service, from battling Venusian raiders to surviving the void beyond Pluto, the verdict brings an unexpected twist: those who once judged him now offer him the very rank he was accused of defying.

In "Kaleidoscope," a Venusian slave stumbles upon a derelict Earth ship and dreams of rebellion—only to find his grand act of defiance was just a moment of delusion. The story unfolds with quiet tension, exploring the fragile line between escape and illusion in a life of quiet servitude.