Big thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of the latest EC installment EC Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1. This volume cranks up the gore, torment, and cosmic irony to 11 by not only having excellent stories with a graphic and fun twist but also introducing a new narrator -The Tormentor- who introduces a few of these terrifying tales of torment. I loved this collection, and I really appreciated the timely and contemporary focus on issues and topics of today. The first two stories focus on privileged younger people, and present a hilarious twist on politically correct speech and cancel culture (“What’s the Deal with Voodoo?”), while “Quintana Roo” was a quick tale of some spoiled Americans experiencing the native foliage of Mexico, and if you’ve ever seen or read The Ruins, this story is somewhat similar but with some shockingly gory artwork. I also loved “Garden Variety” which tells the tale of a mycologist/chef who uses a special fertilizer to grow his fabulous fungi. It’s a wild trip of a story with some gory body horror. In fact, this was not the only story that featured a kind of blending of human remains as compost or ending up in the food supply. “Mary, Mary How Does Your Garden Grow?” and “Red Blend” both feature gory garden stories with perfect plotting. “Hostile Architecture” examines the issue of how design is used to prevent homelessness, and how violence and pain serve as reinforcers to prevent this kind of behavior when taken to this logical end point. It was an interesting premise to think about how so many policies today operate on a kind of pain, humiliation, and suffering rather than really addressing the root causes. A few of the stories also examine issues like post-partum depression, spousal abuse, and gaslighting, and provide some perspective of how women are impacted by these issues, and how they might get revenge. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how these stories took on misogyny and presented women characters who fight back (“Intrusive Thoughts”, “Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow?”, “The Dressmaker”). One other story, “Movie Night at the Marigold Inn,” was an interesting tale that left me haunted and still thinking about its implications. It’s not only a meditation on violence and evil, but also left me thinking about things like the kind of desensitization to violence that we may experience through continued screentime, and how our access to entertainment and screens can gradually lead us to accept the violence we see on these screens. I’m not even sure if that is the theme of the story, but it is an eerie story that has multiple layers.
I loved this collection, and it was great to see this EC collection getting back to the irony, dark humor and tormented twists that made other collections like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror so great. Everything about this collection from the writing and stories to the artwork and visuals is excellent. I highly recommend this, especially if you are a fan of Tales from The Crypt, The Vault of Horror, Creepshow and the like.

Delightfully Unhinged and Purely Evil!

EC Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1 is pure, gleeful nightmare fuel. An anthology of twisted tales that drag you straight into pits of torturous, over-the-top suffering and somehow make it a wildly fun ride the entire time. Every story feels like it’s trying to outdo the last in how far it can push the horror, delivering these grim little morality plays packed with cruelty, irony, and some truly gnarly outcomes. But what I loved most is how fun it all feels despite how dark it gets, it’s theatrical, excessive, and fully committed to the bit. You can really feel this series growing into something bigger too, continuing to expand on that classic EC energy while updating it in ways that feel fresh, sharp, and just unhinged enough to keep me completely hooked.

Every time I see a new EC comic roll out, I know that I'm in good hands. Consitently, they have fun and imaginative stories, with consistent artwork across the board, and "Catacomb of Torment" is no different. We get a bunch of truly entertaining stories, with the final one being my personal favorite of the bunch. The artwork really pops, and thanks to my new tablet, looked even better than I've ever seen it. I genuinely have such a good time getting to read theses, and it's a pleasure to get to say this one is just as good as the rest.

Bloody, gory, and horrifyingly entertaining.
Oni Press and EC Comics are bringing even more terrifying tales to the table with Catacombs of Torment, Vol. 1.
‘Quintana Roo’ by Marguerite Bennett is paradise turned body-horror, ‘The Dressmaker’ by Jeremy Lambert is Silence of the Lambs meets Jennifer’s Body, and ‘These are the Colors that Run’ by Patricia A Johnson is the feel good story we needed.