Spawn of Mars and Other Stories (The Fantagraphics EC Comics Artists Library, 12)

Wallace Wood fans love his sleek, preternaturally lush art, but they especially love the wonderment of his spectacular science fiction. This highly anticipated mouth-watering collection features over two dozen stories brimming with Wood’s meticulously detailed, genre-defining brushwork—all save the one Wood wrote himself on the typewriter of EC editor Al Feldstein. And with titles like “Spawn of Mars,” “The Dark Side of the Moon,” “A Trip to a Star,” “The Invaders,” “The Secret of Saturn’s Ring,” and “The Two-Century Journey,” how can you go wrong? This is EC science fiction at its finest. Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC line, Spawn of Mars and Other Stories features essays and notes by EC experts on these superbly crafted, classic comic book masterpieces.The 1950s were also a launching pad for some of the greatest comic book artists in history, many of whom worked for EC — including Wallace Wood, whose hypnotically detailed, lushly expressive brushwork brought to life menacing thugs, ominous cityscapes, and small-town America, as well as Everymen grappling with profound moral issues — not to mention some of the most heart-stoppingly beautiful women ever to sashay across a comic book page.Like every book in the Fantagraphics EC line, Spawn of Mars features extensive essays and notes on these classic stories by EC experts — but the real “meat” of the matter (sometimes literally, in the grislier stories) is supplied by these ofted lurid, sometimes downright over-the-top, but always compelling and superbly crafted, classic comic-book masterpieces.