CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 will feature stories by Matt Kindt & Kano and Ben H. Winters & Artyom Topilin, and a Tom Fowler SPA FON! variant cover.

The press release follows:

Media Release -- Compelled to OBLIVION, driven to ENTROPY, all life in our cosmos can only end in one place: COMPLETE ANNIHILATION! Erupting in the aftermath of EC Comics' hugely anticipated resurrection this July in the pages of EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 from Oni Press, the limitless fury of the most infamous and influential comics imprint of all time – the immortal EC Comics – rages onward to wrench bizarre tales of time and space into our dimensional plane on August 7th in CRUEL UNIVERSE #1!





Now, for the first time anywhere, Oni is proud to reveal a reality-shattering take on a timeless EC tradition with the CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 "SPA FON!" variant cover – a limited-edition, 1:100 retailer incentive by master cartoonist Tom Fowler (Refrigerator Full of Heads, Mad Magazine)! First introduced in the classic WEIRD FANTASY story, "The Aliens," the extraterrestrial exclamation "Spa Fon!" (and its rejoinder, "Squa Tront!") have become the rallying cry for discerning EC fans across more than five decades. And, soon, on August 7th, it rockets back to rightful place in comic book infamy in CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 – featuring 40, all-new pages of destructive wonder with cosmic implications!

Who are our guides across this double-sized, 40-page introduction to a cosmic maelstrom of strange alien entities, malevolent scientists, and terrifying technological catastrophes? Learn to fear the void with the irradiated imaginations of Hugo Award nominee Corinna Bechko (Green Lantern: Earth Two), rising star Chris Condon (That Texas Blood), Eisner Award nominee Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT), and Edgar Award winner Ben H. Winters (CBS' Tracker, The Last Policeman) as they collide with the wondrously destructive visions of artists Jonathan Case (Green River Killer), Kano (Gotham Central), Artyom Topilin (I Hate This Place), and Caitlin Yarsky (Black Hammer: Reborn)!

"PRICELESS" by Ben H. Winters and Artyom Topilin
CRUEL UNIVERSE #1
On Sale August 7th






"THE CHAMPION" by Matt Kindt and Kano
CRUEL UNIVERSE #1
On Sale August 7th







IN 2024, EC COMICS LIVE AGAIN! This summer, four-color fear infects a new generation in EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 – coming to comic shops everywhere on July 24th! Then, two weeks later on August 7th: The next shocking chapter in EC's long-awaiting resurrection continues in CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 – 40 all-new pages of space-bending stories where existence and annihilation will collide with our reality to make comics history once and for all time!

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
ON SALE AUGUST 7TH | $4.99 (STANDARD) | $7.99 (FOIL) | 40 PGS | FC
IOC: 06/27/2024
FOC: 07/15/2024

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.