Barely old enough to drink when he joined the EC Comics stable, Al Williamson ma
y have been the new kid on the block, but a lifetime of studying such classic ad
venture cartoonists as Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon) and Hal Foster (Prince Valian
t) had made him a kid to reckon with as he proved again and again in the stories
he created for EC s legendary New Trend comics, in particular Weird Science and
Weird Fantasy. As a result of Williamson s focus, it s possible to compile all
of Williamson s New Trend EC work into one book which Fantagraphics is finally d
oing here. Sci-fi aficionados should note that although most of the stories were
written by Al Feldstein, 50 Girls 50 features three of EC s legendary Ray Bradb
ury adaptations, including I, Rocket and A Sound of Thunder and a unique curiosi
ty, a strip adapted from a short story submitted by a teenage Harlan Ellison. Wi
lliamson ran with a gang of like-minded young Turks dubbed the Fleagle Gang, who
would help one another out on assignments. Thus this book includes three storie
s upon which Williamson was joined by the legendary Frank Frazetta, and one stor
y ( Food for Thought ) where Roy Krenkel provided his exquisite alien landscapes
, to make it one of the most gorgeous EC stories ever printed. As a supplementar
y bonus, 50 Girls 50 includes three stories drawn by Fleagles sans Williamson: F
razetta s Shock SuspenStories short Squeeze Play; Krenkel s meticulous Time to L
eave; and Angelo Torres s An Eye for an Eye, an EC story that famously fell prey
to censorship and was not released until the 1970s. As with other Fantagraphics
EC titles, 50 Girls 50 will also include extensive story notes by EC experts."
