(Image Credit: EC Comics)
ComingSoon is debuting an exclusive Cruel Universe #4 excerpt from the latest upcoming EC Comics issue from Oni Press.
Cruel Universe #4 comes from comic veterans Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT) and Ben H. Winters (CBS’ Tracker). It also features Cecil Castellucci (Shade of the Changing Girl), Matt Bors (Toxic Avengers), Alison Sampson (Hit-Girl), Kano (Gotham Central), and more.
What is Cruel Universe about?
The series first began back in August with its first issue and is one of the first new comic series from EC Comics, which was revived by Oni Press this year. Cruel Universe is a science fiction anthology series that features new stories taking place across the universe.
Cruel Universe #4 is set to go on sale on November 6, 2024, and will be available for $4.99. The issue will be 32 pages. Check out an exclusive look at the issue, as well as the covers for the issue, below:
In an exclusive statement to ComingSoon, writer Matt Kindt praised the history of EC Comics and outlined his thoughts on working with the company on new horror stories.
I was reading the EC Comics reprints that were being published monthly in the early 90s. So it really felt like I was reading them as they came out. I’d never read anything like that before. And even at the time they really stood out. Think of the context of early 90s comics. Valiant and Jim Lee on X-Men and Image just launching and just this big glut of superhero books. Of course, I was reading all that every week. But then at the bottom of the stack was this big EC double-issue of 8 page short stories. Horror, sci-fi, war. It was always such a jarring contrast. But what was great was, most weeks – those EC reprints were still the best thing out there.
It’s hard, out of the context of the day, for me to feel the shock of what those original stories would have been back then. So I think it’s tricky in modern day. Post-internet, what can possibly shock or offend any of us now? Well, plenty, I’m sure. But what keeps the old stories timeless is what I think I’ve been trying to capture in these new stories. The shock and violence is there – but it was never ever really about that. There was always heart and heartbreak in the stories. An underlying sadness and melancholy. The stories are really cautionary tales. And cautionary tales imply optimism. That we can change. Life can be better. So within the darkness and violence and terrible, terrible endings. There’s hope.
Horror is psychological. So I never really imagined or requested from my collaborators something super disgusting visually. The true horror in my EC stories is in the ideas. It’s tricky to talk about without spoiling something but the most horrific thing a writer/artist can do is put a very horrible idea into someone’s head. Your imagination is way worse than almost anything we could show. Hitchcock showed us all that. But I’m not talking about implying violence and gore. I’m talking about horrible IDEAS. Ideas that will haunt you because you can’t stop thinking about it after. That’s a true EC story.
I just finished writing an EC story last week and sent an apology email to the editors along with it. I’d turned in an outline of the story but when I started writing it – it began to kind of write itself. It went to a pretty creepy place that I just let it go to. I rode the wave really. In some ways it was just a classic haunted house story…but I never thought about it that way – and the approach was definitely something with a twist. But the execution…ugh. I disturbed myself. I know, I know, the idea came from me…but in some ways that makes it even more disturbing.
Previously, EC Comics was a major comic book publisher specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, dark fantasy, and other genres, but became best known for publishing Mad, the humor magazine. Although EC Comics hadn’t made any new comics in some time, the company still released various reprints throughout the years, with Dark Horse Comics reprinting the EC Archives in 2013.
“Only human arrogance would lead us to believe that we are alone in this vast universe,” reads the synopsis for Cruel Universe #4. “The real question is, who will find us first? Allies to help us grow and flourish as members of larger cosmic society? Or others who would use up the earth for its resources, enslave the human race, and destroy everything we know and love? Do we live in a limitless realm of possibilities, or a deep dark Cruel Universe? Cozy thoughts, aren’t they? While you ponder those questions, you’ll find no comfort in the pages of our latest cruel offering.”
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