You now can get your first look at EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 and CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 from all-star creators J. Holtham & Jorge Fornés, Stephanie Phillips & Phil Hester, and Matt Kindt & Kano.

The press release follows:

Media Release -- THIS SUMMER, THE MOST NOTORIOUS NAME IN TERROR IS BACK – WITH A VENGEANCE!! The imminent arrival of Oni Press' fear-fueled revival of the immortal EC Comics is mere weeks away – led by EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 on July 24th and followed by CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 on August 7th! Ushered into reality by some of the most twisted minds in comics today, Oni Press is proud to reveal an extended look into two terrifying EC tales from the 40-page first issues of each must-read series: "KILLER SPEC" by J. Holtham (Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale) & Jorge Fornés (Rorschach, Danger Street), "FAMILY VALUES" by Stephanie Phillips (Harley Quinn, Grim) & Phil Hester (Family Tree), and "THE CHAMPION" by Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT) and Kano (Gotham Central)!

Debuting July 24th in a double-sized, 40-page testament of terror, EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 ushers in the full-scale resurrection of comics' most infamous and influential publishing house with four all-new tales of torment and tension: "KILLER SPEC" by J. Holtham & Jorge Fornés, "SENATOR, SENATOR" by Chris Condon & Peter Krause," FAMILY VALUES" by Stephanie Phillips & Phil Hester, and "US VS. US" by Brian Azzarello & Vlad Legostaev.

Then: Following in the blood-stained footsteps of EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1, CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 welcomes cosmic annihilation August 7th with four bizarre tales of time and space, packed with strange extraterrestrial entities, malevolent scientists, and terrifying technological catastrophes: "THE CHAMPION" by Matt Kindt & Kano, "SOLO SHIFT" by Corinna Bechko & Caitlin Yarsky, "DRINK UP!" by Chris Condon & Jonathan Case, "PRICELESS" by Ben H. Winters & Artyom Topilin:

"We're pouring our hearts and souls – and gallons upon gallons of red ink – into resurrecting EC's indomitable spirit for a new era in the pages of EPITAPHS FOR THE ABYSS and CRUEL UNIVERSE," said Hunter Gorinson, Oni Press President & Publisher. "These stories are pernicious, primal, and primed with the visceral raw intensity that EC first injected in the American imagination. Spanning the streets of Los Angeles to the far-flung reaches of the cosmos, these first two stories – from writers J. Holtham, Stephanie Phillips, and Matt Kindt – cut so deep that they're bound to leave scars."

"The visual storytelling prowess of Jorge Fornés, Phil Hester, and Kano in their respective tales brilliantly showcase the delightfully compelling twists and turns of the best EC stories of old," said Sierra Hahn, Oni Press Editor-in-Chief. "They take us straight into the hearts and minds of seemingly complex individuals before spitting us back out, entertained and maybe a little changed by the end."

THE DEAD WILL RISE! UNIVERSES WILL COLLAPSE! AND HISTORY WILL BE MADE! The return of the legendary EC Comics begins this summer – starting in EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 on July 24th and CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 on August 7th!

EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 (of 5)
WRITTEN BY BRIAN AZZARELLO, CHRIS CONDON, J. HOLTHAM & STEPHANIE PHILLIPS
ART BY JORGE FORNES, PHIL HESTER, PETER KRAUSE & VLAD LEGOSTAEV
COVER A BY LEE BERMEJO
COVER B BY ANDREA SORRENTINO WITH DAVE STEWART
EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY JAY STEPHENS
B&W ARTIST EDITION VARIANT (1:50) BY RIAN HUGHES
HORROR HOST VARIANT (1:100) BY DUSTIN WEAVER
FOIL COVER (GOLD) BY LEE BERMEJO
FOIL COVER (SILVER) BY ANDREA SORRENTINO WITH DAVE STEWART
BLANK COVER ALSO AVAILABLE
ON SALE JULY 24TH | $4.99 (STANDARD) | $7.99 (FOIL) | 40 PGS | FC
IOC: 05/30/2024
FOC: 07/01/2024











CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 (of 5)
WRITTEN BY CORINNA BECHKO, CHRIS CONDON, MATT KINDT, & BEN H. WINTERS
ART BY JONATHAN CASE, KANO, LEOMACS, ARTYOM TOPILIN, & CAITLIN YARSKY
COVER A BY GREG SMALLWOOD
COVER B BY J.H. WILLIAMS III
EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY JAY STEPHENS
B&W ARTIST EDITION VARIANT (1:50) BY J.H. WILLIAMS III
SPA FON VARIANT (1:100) BY TOM FOWLER WITH BILL CRABTREE
FOIL COVER (SILVER) BY GREG SMALLWOOD
FOIL COVER (GOLD) BY J.H. WILLIAMS III
BLANK COVER ALSO AVAILABLE









About Oni Press

Founded in 1997, Oni Press has a 25-year history as one of the industry's most respected and acclaimed publishers of award-winning comic books and graphic novels with titles including Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, K. O'Neill's Tea Dragon Society, Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, Ezra Clayton Daniels' Upgrade Soul, Brenna Thummler's Sheets trilogy, and many hundreds more. In 2019, Oni Press merged with Lion Forge Comics – the Eisner Award-winning independent comic book publisher founded by Academy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur David Steward II – to create one of the largest, independent libraries of comics content anywhere in media. The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group now exists as a publishing subsidiary of Steward's diversified global media company, Polarity.

The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group publishes more than 60 original and licensed graphic novels annually, in addition to an extensive list of periodical comics.

About EC Comics

As the birthplace of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, MAD MAGAZINE, WEIRD SCIENCE, and more of the most influential and celebrated comic series ever published, EC Comics has cemented itself as one of the central nerves of American pop culture with a legacy that spans more than seven decades. From 1944 to 1956, EC – established as "Educational Comics" by founder M.C. Gaines and later rebranded "Entertaining Comics" under the leadership of Publisher & Editor William M. Gaines – led a creative renaissance for the comics industry that, for the first time, elevated the once-derided comics medium into the echelons of English literature and high art. Heralded as "one of the great explosions of vox-pop literature" by Time Magazine and "fiercely honest, politically adversarial, [and] visually masterful" by The Comics Journal, EC's line of comics books - which collectively sold more than 10 million copies annually at their peak – entertained and informed in equal measure, using brilliantly crafted tales of horror, science fiction, satire, and battlefield conflict to critique and subvert America's dark impulses toward violence, racism, inequity, environmental destruction, and war.

Forcibly shuttered by the Comics Code Authority – a pro-censorship group specifically tasked with eradicating EC's illuminating influence from the American comic book industry – in 1956, EC's unique brand of subversive storytelling lived on through the continued success of MAD Magazine, which would fuel American counterculture through the death of Publisher William M. Gaines in 1992. EC's titles and stories have been adapted in a number of media – including the long-running HBO's long-running TALES FROM THE CRYPT franchise of television series and feature films – and continue to be celebrated by multiple generations of comic creators, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians as a seminal influence.

Today, EC Comics' canon of classic stories can continuously be found in print through new editions at Dark Horse Comics, TASCHEN, Fantagraphics, and IDW Publishing. In 2024, EC announced a new partnership with multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher Oni Press to produce the first all-new EC Comics titles in nearly 70 years.