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Russ Cochran (publisher)

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Russ Cochran is a publisher of EC Comics reprints, Disney comics and books on Hopalong Cassidy, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and vacuum tubes. He has been a publisher for over 30 years, after quitting his job as a physics professor.

His EC Comics reprints include the black-and-white The Complete EC Library, the full-color EC Annuals, and the full-color hardcover EC Archives.

Cochran has been associated with Another Rainbow Publishing, Gladstone Publishing and Gemstone Publishing.

EC Comics reprints

Cochran's reprints (which have been released through a number of publishers, including Cochran himself) were compiled primarily from copies of the original artwork pages (complemented when necessary by scans of the original printed comics), which were owned by EC Publisher William Gaines. Cochran befriended Gaines and also handled the resale of the original artwork to collectors via mail-auction catalogs during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

EC Portfolios

The EC Portfolios consisted of a half dozen oversized issues between 1971 and 1977, published by Russ Cochran.[1]

The Complete EC Library

From 1978, this project reprinted every EC comic in hardbound volumes. Unlike the original comics, these were done in black and white, except for Mad, which had both black-and-white edition and a color edition. These volumes included annotations and commentary by various comics historians, including John Benson, Max Allan Collins, Martin Jukovsky, Bill Mason, Bill Spicer and Bhob Stewart. The Complete EC Library eventually reprinted every New Trend and New Direction comic and many of the Pre-Trend comics.

EC Classics

This group of magazine-sized reprints from Cochran appeared between 1985 and 1989. The first six issues featured various stories for each specific comic. Starting with issue 7, each reprint featured two specific issues. A total of 12 issues were released.[2] These comics have no text at the top of the cover aside from the title, and have a cover price of $4.95 within a white circle at the upper right of the cover.

Gladstone Publishing EC reprints

From 1990-1991, Cochran worked with Gladstone Publishing to reprint 4 comics (two different titles per issue). These included six issues of The Vault of Horror (August 1990 - June 1991), six issues of Tales from the Crypt (July 1990 - May 1991), four issues of Weird Science (September 1990 - March 1991), and two issues of The Haunt of Fear (May/July 1991). After four issues of Weird Science, Gladstone changed it to The Haunt of Fear. This took the The Haunt of Fear from The Vault of Horror and replaced it with Weird Fantasy. The Haunt of Fear took Weird Science as its second issue per comic. Tales from the Crypt kept Crime SuspenStories for its double sized horror. A total of 18 issues were published. The cover has text such as "Double-Sized" or "Giant Horror" at the top, above the comic title, and a stylized triangular "G" logo at the upper right side.

RCP Reprints (Russ Cochran Publisher)

The RCP Reprints appeared from 1991–1992 and also reprinted various issues from the horror, sci-fi and crime comics. Starting in 1992, the comics were reprinted in chronological order in a 32-page form. This line eventually reprinted every New Trend and New Direction comic except for Mad, and many Pre-Trend comics as well. Distinguishing marks are the text "64 pages of vintage EC horror" at the top of the cover, and a cover price of $2.00 under the EC logo. There is also a series with vertical text "An Extra Large Comic" at the left side of the cover, and a $3.95 cover price.

Gemstone Publishing EC reprints

Cochran and the EC reprints moved to Gemstone Publishing, which naturally reprinted the Gladstone-printed issues as part of their EC reprints. From 1992, Gemstone also republished New Trend and New Direction titles in single issues. In association with Gemstone, Cochran has published the EC Annuals and EC Archives described below. The Gemstone reprints have a cover price of $1.50 under the EC logo at the right side, and text such as "First Fearsome Issue" or "First SuspensFul Issue" at the top above the comic title.

Gemstone reprints:

Cochran/Gemstone supplemented the 1980s The Complete EC Library with the 2005 Picto-Fiction collection, comprising the EC comics: Confessions Illustrated, Crime Illustrated, Shock Illustrated and Terror Illustrated, along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before".[3]

EC Annuals

The Cochran/Gemstone EC Annuals are full color, comic-book sized reprints with four to six complete comics in each Annual. Titles in the series include Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, Shock SuspenStories, Crime SuspenStories, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Weird Science-Fantasy, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Panic, Piracy, Impact, Valor, Aces High, Extra!, Psychoanalysis and MD.

EC Archives

Main article: EC Archives

The Cochran/Gemstone 2006 project EC Archives is a series of full-color hardcover books, each containing six issues of the comic.

The Sunday Funnies

In 2011, Cochran launched a new monthly publication, The Sunday Funnies, reprinting vintage Sunday comic strips in a 22"x16", full-color newspaper-insert-style format.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Von Bernewitz, Fred and Geissman, Grant Tales of Terror: The EC Companion (Gemstone Publishing and Fantagraphics Books, Timonium, MD & Seattle, WA, 2000) p. 210
  2. ^ Von Bernewitz and Geissman, p. 213
  3. ^ The Book Palace's "Complete EC Library" pages. Accessed 8 September 2010
  4. ^ "Russ Cochran launches Sunday Funnies". The Beat: The News Blog of Comics Culture. 2011-12-19. Retrieved 2011-12-31. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
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