EC Catacomb of Torment Vol. 1
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.
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