Tales from the Crypt reproduces six of the famous Crypt comic books of the 1950s created by William Gaines, the publisher of Mad magazine. At the time they were published they were considered shocking and entirely too grizzly and violent for children. It was widely believed that reading such comics lead directly to juvenile delinquency and mental degeneracy, and all horror comics were ultimately banned. (To learn about that genuinely terrifying tale of censorship and public panic, read the excellent The Ten Cent Plague by David Hajdu.)

Today Tales from the Crypt is plenty entertaining, but it’s hard to understand what all the fuss was about...until you consider that most comic books in the 1950s focused on cute anthropomorphized animals tales and “funny” stories. Reading these comics books when they originally appeared must have been like watching Freddie Kruger make an appearance in a Doris Day film. Worth reading both for the thrilling illustrations and narratives that now seem camp, but kept kids around the country up at night in their day. ( )