RIP Al Feldstein

 Tragic news to end the month. Al Feldstein, artist, writer and editor, has passed away today.

  Although Bill Gaines was overseer at EC, he always acknowledged that it was Feldstein’s writing which made EC great. Sure, he cribbed a lot from pulps, but it was he who helped elevate EC’s output to literature with his hard-hitting “preachies” in Shock Suspenstories and Weird Science, tackling subjects like racism, war, religious fanaticism and the folly of revenge at a time when most comics (and a lot of other media) completely ignored such things.


 And of course, it was he who wrote the script for Krigstein’s legendary “Master Race” in Impact #1.

 Already famous for his “good girl” cover art before he arrived at EC, he was also no slouch as an interior artist himself. Capable of handling both sleek and shiny science fiction and moldy gothic horror:

 Here’s “Am I Man or Machine” from Weird Science #13 (actually #1), which Feldstein both wrote and illustrated. It’s a quiet, sentimental little tale far afield from EC’s usual approach, with a final panel that still packs an emotional sucker punch. All © EC.