Tales from the Crypt (comics)

Tales from the Crypt was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955, producing 27 issues. (The first three issues of the series were titled "The Crypt of Terror". The title change began with issue #18, for a total of 43 issues in the series.) Along with its sister titles, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror, Tales From the Crypt was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. In April and June 1954, highly publicized Congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines cancelled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion horror titles, along with the company's remaining crime and science fiction series in September 1954. All EC titles have been reprinted at various times since their demise, and stories from the horror series have been adapted for television and film.