Reed Crandall was an undisputed master of fine-line detail and expertly nuanced pen-and-ink texture. He was a perfect fit for EC Comics and his classic, illustrative style brilliantly illuminated sharp scripts featuring schemes, tricks, betrayal, and retribution in the company’s crime, horror, and science fiction titles. This collection of 21 Crandall favorites includes “The Silent Towns,” a Ray Bradbury story about the last man and woman on Mars; “Carrion Death,” a stark horror story about a man struggling through the desert with a corpse handcuffed to his wrist as the vultures circle closer; “Sweetie-Pie,” the grisly story of a ghoul who sets up a roadside hazard to procure, um, fresh meat; “The Kidnapper,” about a man who decides to kidnap a baby to replace the one that had been stolen from him and his wife; “Space Suitors,” a science fiction love triangle that leads to jealously, betrayal, and murder; and “The High Cost of Dying,” the title story, in which a man must make an awful choice between burying his wife and feeding his children … Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC Artists’ Library, The High Cost Of Dying and Other Stories also features essays and notes by EC experts on these superbly crafted, classic masterpieces.
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