The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #5

In a haunting tale from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #5, a legendary knife-throwing act in Hungary takes a deadly turn when Harry, the performer, awakens to find his wife Olga unresponsive—only to discover she’s not dead, but a vampire. As their act evolves into a grim performance of love and blood, Harry’s final performance becomes a shocking declaration of vengeance. The Vault-Keeper sets the stage for a story where love, death, and a single, fateful throw collide.

Old Charlie’s vivid descriptions of the world beyond the hospital window bring comfort to two paralyzed patients, but their quiet routine shatters with the arrival of Hank Bowers, a new inmate claimed to be blind and accused of murder. As tensions rise, Hank’s silence gives way to a quiet calculation—one that might just turn the ward into a prison of his own design.

In "Fountains of Youth!", a young woman named Eileen Martin answers a mysterious ad seeking a traveling companion for the enigmatic Madam DuBois, despite her brother Kenneth’s growing unease. As the pair set sail on a luxurious cruise, Eileen’s sudden and unexplained death sends Kenneth on a desperate investigation—only to uncover a chilling truth: Madam DuBois is no ordinary traveler, but a predator who feeds on youth, and her next victim is already fading before his eyes.

Brad and Alice uncover a chilling mystery in the attic of their new home when they find a trunk filled with bones—unearthing a decades-old web of greed, betrayal, and murder tied to the late Cyrus Klitch, his scheming nurse Myra, and his treacherous nephew Jeremy.

In a grim, smoke-choked sweatshop run by the merciless Mr. Lasch, women toil for pennies under brutal conditions, their lives reduced to endless labor and despair. When one of them discovers a hidden way to turn the factory’s cruelty against its master, the air grows thick with quiet fury—and the past begins to stitch itself back together in ways no one expected.

In a twist of dark irony, Dr. Charles Andrews finds himself caught in a web of guilt and desperation after a moment of greed during an emergency surgery. When his wife Cynthia flaunts a lavish mink coat, his financial anxieties spiral—only to lead him to a hospital where a stolen diamond ring becomes the center of a dangerous cover-up. With the stakes rising and his own mind unraveling, Charles tries to hide the ring in the skull of a dying patient, unaware of the chaos his choices may unleash.

In "A Bloody Undertaking!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of deception and dread, where mortician Gilbert Podges, newly married to a mysterious young woman, finds his quiet life unraveling. As blood vanishes from corpses and whispers of a vampire plague the town, suspicion falls on his new assistant, Charlie Drayne—until the townspeople take justice into their own hands. But with the truth buried beneath fear and blood, Gilbert’s relief is short-lived, and the real horror may still be in the dark.

In a tale of betrayal and eerie consequence, a wealthy steamship line owner's life unravels when his brother and wife conspire to end it—only to find their crime mirrored in a chilling tattoo on the victim’s chest. As secrets surface and guilt takes hold, the Vault-Keeper warns that some marks don’t fade, and some truths are written in blood.

Fred, a medical college professor with a chilling fascination for anatomy, finds his marriage strained by his wife Jo Ann’s discomfort with his work. When their arguments escalate, he devises a plan to eliminate her—only to discover that even the most meticulous schemes can unravel in unexpected ways.

In a chilling tale from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #5, a grieving widow arranges a seance to consult her late husband, John Chalmers, about her financial future—only to find the spirit of her husband is not the only one seeking retribution. As Madame Gilda channels the dead, long-buried secrets rise, and the confidence men who fleeced Chalmers now face a haunting of their own.

In "Fed Up!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of twisted retribution: Sandra, a sword swallower and wife to the increasingly obese Alex, reaches her breaking point. When Alex’s insatiable appetite drains her earnings and consumes their life, she turns the tables by urging him to master her act—only to trap him in the dressing room, helpless and gasping, as his own gluttony catches up with him.

In the dead of winter, a stranded motorist is pulled from a snowbank by a passing man whose kindness may have sealed his fate. When a young woman is murdered and the only witness points to the same man, he’s sentenced to die—unless the man he once helped can prove his innocence. With time running out and the electric chair waiting, the truth lies buried beneath snow, silence, and a prison’s cold steel.

In a chilling tale from The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library #5, the enigmatic actress Willow Dree—whose image has always eluded the camera—finds herself stranded with fellow star Bradbury Phillips in a remote cabin during a brutal blizzard. As isolation sets in and the storm cuts them off from the world, the eerie truth behind Willow’s photographic curse begins to surface in the frozen silence. The Vault-Keeper warns of the price of being two of a kind.

Cedric Harrington pours his heart into a life-sized silver-plated statue of Christine, hoping the gift will win her hand in marriage. But when he overhears her and her lover Gary plotting to murder him for his money, his dream begins to unravel. When Gary finally tracks Christine to the studio, he finds more than he bargained for—something far darker than a stolen lover.

Martin Kaine, haunted by regret over his marriage to Pamela, sees her worsening health as a chance to end their life together—until a twist of fate turns his plan into something far more unpredictable. With Dr. Firestone's involvement and Pamela's fragile condition, Martin's calculated move spirals into a situation he never could have foreseen.

In "Till Death...", the Vault-Keeper recounts a haunting tale of love and loss: when Steve’s wife Donna dies, his grief drives him to desperate measures. His loyal servant Jebco, seeking to ease the pain, performs a forbidden voodoo ritual that brings Donna back—but not as she was. As her body decays, Steve’s joy turns to horror, and in a final act of devotion, he takes his own life. Jebco, true to his word, revives Steve in the same cursed form, binding them together in undeath.

Jay, a man worn thin by constant arguments with his wife Emma, finds refuge at his best friend Dick’s home—until he learns Dick and Emma have been secretly involved. Fueled by betrayal and rage, Jay devises a plan to eliminate the threat, but the consequences of his actions may be more than he bargained for.

John Younger and Frank Weston thought they had the perfect scam—conning wealthy travelers and ransacking their homes while they 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 mysterious door marked "T.C.K." leads to a hidden library, and from there, a series of horrifying encounters with zombies, vampires, werewolves, and mummies. By the time they burst back into the house, they’re barely sane—unaware that the true master of the mansion has just returned, watching from the shadows.

In "The Mausoleum!", the Vault-Keeper recounts a chilling tale of greed and deception set in a remote castle. After Howard Martin’s failed attempt to buy the estate from Mr. Weatherby, the man’s nephew Nathan murders him, hides the body in the family mausoleum, and frames the death as an accident—only to later profit when Martin returns to purchase the property. As the castle transforms into a tourist attraction, unsettling events begin to unfold, hinting at secrets buried beneath the stone.

In "Rendezvous!", Joe Haines, a bookkeeper with a secret, plays a dangerous game of fate with his office colleagues—betting on a gambler’s plane crash as a cruel joke. When suspicion falls on him, he tries to manipulate destiny to protect himself, but the scheme spirals into something far darker than he intended.

In "Split Personality!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of deception and double life, where a cunning racketeer named Ed King attempts to seduce and marry both Blair sisters—Amy and Susan—by pretending to be two separate men. When his elaborate ruse unravels during a fateful tanning session, the sisters respond with a gruesome, unforgettable justice.

In "Touch and Go!", William Acton, driven by a chilling obsession to erase every trace of his presence, meticulously tries to scrub away the evidence of his crime at Arthur Huxley’s home—only to find that his own meticulous efforts may be the very thing that leads to his undoing.

In "Easel Kill Ya!", a young artist haunted by loneliness and obscurity finds twisted inspiration in tragedy, turning fatal accidents into his most prized works—until his fiancée’s own accident forces him to cross a line he never meant to. As the story unfolds, the Vault Keeper recounts how one man’s desperate need to create led him down a path where art and death became inseparable.

When Harry Wilson pleads with his old friend and private detective Gregg Saunders to find his missing wife, Edith, the case quickly spirals into a deadly game of deception. A mysterious murder mystery novel becomes the key clue—but as the investigation deepens, the line between hunter and hunted blurs.