Dates
- Cover date
- February-March 1954
- On sale
- November 24, 1953
- Pages
- 36
Editions and covers
- Original editionSource ↗
Creators
Stories
- Only Skin-Deep · 8 pages
A man comes out of an car accident with amnesia and plastic surgery to reconstruct extensive facial burns to be met by a woman who claims to be his lover and that the two of them plotted to murder her husband for his insurance money. He travels to a cabin with her and when he slips and bumps his head, his memory returns. He strangles the woman because he recalls that he is not her lover but actually her husband who had overheard their plans to kill him and got the jump on the other man and switched clothes before getting caught in the fire he set in the car's gas tank.
- Blood-Brothers · 7 pages
A bigot finds out that his life was saved as a child by a blood transfusion from a black man.
- Proposal · 1 pages
Marvin met Desire at Gala Dance, and, although he never actually danced with her, he did escort her home. Then he wined and dined her a few times before he finally decided to ask for her hand in marriage. To Marvin's total surprise, Desire unscrewed her hand and handed it to Marvin, and her father said that anytime Marvin wanted anything else from her to just ask!
- Upon Reflection · 6 pages
A boxer feels guilty for killing a man in the ring when the man's widow screams at him that he's a 'beast'. He perceives that his hands and face are taking on the appearance of a gorilla but a psychologist tells him that it's all in his mind. He sees a mirror on the street and resolves to look into it. He gaps in horror and then withdraws the pistol he had in his jacket to shoot himself. The store owner is puzzled by the suicide and tells the nearby police officer that he had recently purchased a trick mirror to spruce up business.
- Squeeze Play · 7 pages
A young man gets a girl pregnant and then murders her by throwing her out of a roller coaster car. The other riders, who hear her screams for help, summon the police. The killer then bolts and buries his incriminating clothes beneath the beach's boardwalk and tries to get a ride home with some girls. They soon cajole him into the surf, despite his protests that he can't swim, but quickly abandon him when they see their boyfriends arrive leaving him to drown.
Reprinted in
Shock Suspenstories (1981), Shock Suspenstories (1994), The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (2012), The EC Archives: Shock SuspenStories (2015), EC Horror Library of the 1950's (1970), EC Portfolio (1971)