Courtesy of Oni Press, we have an exclusive reveal of the 1:100 “Library Variant” cover of Cruel Kingdom #1, the latest issue of the EC Comics revival by cartoonist Tom Fowler. The four-issue series, which begins in the new year, offers stories in EC’s typical dark genre, but this time in a fantasy world rather than horror or sci-fi, and Fowler’s cover aptly shows a young wizard’s apprentice discovering his The master’s dusty book is not just an old book.
Colors by Nick Filardi
Coming in at 40 pages, Cruel Kingdom #1 features stories by Chris Condon, Al Ewing, Greg Pak, Charlie Adlard, Kano, and Leomac (interior art). One of them is “Blood of the Robo King,” which features the main cover by Adam Pollina. I’m also happy to share an uncolored two-page internal preview of that part.
Hunter Golinson, president and publisher of Oni, said: “Since the resurgence of EC at Oni Press, we have always sought to extend our patented and powerful EC formula into new and unexpected areas.We begin with Shiver Supenstories, our first foray into holiday stories. We’ve made our forays…but Cruel Kingdom is our biggest and boldest change of direction yet, as EC takes a dark look at the golden spiers of high fantasy with its many fairies, witches, and sword wielders . Warriors. – for the very first time.Continuing exactly where its predecessor, Cruel Universe, left off with its final issue in December, these are a fun, dark, and deadly reversal of the genre conventions you know and love. There, wizards cast curses instead of granting wishes, and every knight harbors a dark secret.”
Cruel Kingdom #1 will be available for pre-order at your local comic shop until Monday, December 2nd, on sale for $4.99 on January 8th. Other variant covers by Liam Sharpe, Jay Stevens and Ryan Hughes are also available with gold foil, a black and white version of Polina’s artwork, and a blank sketch cover. Meanwhile, EC’s Cruel Universe #5 concludes the series on December 4th, followed by Shiver Supenstories on December 11th, and the horror-themed Epitaphs from the Abyss #6 (of 12) on December 18th. It is scheduled to be released on the day.
Something like this:
Like loading…
