EC Comics - Mad and Later Years

Mad and Later Years

Mad sold well throughout the company's troubles, and Gaines focused exclusively on publishing it in magazine form. This move was done to placate its editor Harvey Kurtzman, who had received an offer to join the magazine Pageant, but preferred to remain in charge of his own magazine. As well, the switch removed Mad from the auspices of the Comics Code. Kurtzman, regardless, left Mad soon afterward when Gaines would not give him 51 percent control of the magazine, and Gaines brought back Al Feldstein as Kurtzman's successor. The magazine enjoyed great success for decades afterward.

The Tales from the Crypt title was licensed for a movie of that name in 1972. This was followed by another film, The Vault of Horror, in 1973. The omnibus movies Creepshow (1982) and Creepshow 2, while using original scripts written by Stephen King and George A. Romero, were inspired by EC's horror comics and hosted by a Ghoulunatic-inspired character. Creepshow 2 included an animated interstitial material between vignettes, featuring a young protagonist who goes to great length to acquire and keep possession of an issue of the comic book Creepshow.

In 1989, Tales from the Crypt began airing on the U.S. cable-TV network HBO. The series ran through 1996, comprising 93 episodes and seven seasons. Tales from the Crypt spawned two TV series, Tales from the Cryptkeeper and Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House. It also spawned three "Tales from the Crypt"-branded movies, Demon Knight, Bordello of Blood, and Ritual. In 1997, HBO followed the TV series with the similar Perversions of Science, the episodes of which were based on stories from EC's Weird Science. It ran 10 episodes.

As of 2011, EC Publications continues as a legal entity holding copyrights to Mad magazine, and is under the management of the DC Comics unit of Time Warner.