Horror comic meets presidential politics

SARAH PALIN: COVER GIRL ON NEW TALES FROM THE CRYPT COMIC BOOK

Daughter of original Crypt publisher pens editorial in response to
Palin-inspired book-banning controversy



Whether or not vice-presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin
explored the possibilities of banning books back when she was mayor
of Wasilla, Alaska, the controversy has placed her front and center
on the latest cover of the TALES FROM THE CRYPT comic book published
by Papercutz. Half of the comic's print run has a special cover
featuring Palin, wielding a hockey stick as she asks the horror-
hosts, the Crypt-Keeper, the Old Witch, and the Vault-Keeper, "Didn't
we get rid of you guys in the 50's?" Every edition of the comic will
feature "A Special Editorial" by Cathy Gaines Mifsud, daughter of the
legendary publisher of MAD magazine and the original TALES FROM THE
CRYPT.



“TALES FROM THE CRYPT is not endorsing any political
candidates . . . . nor are we attacking any candidates,” Gaines
Mifsud says -- but, she adds, TALES does care about freedom and
censorship. As Gaines Mifsud points out, the forces of censorship
pushed her father to stop publishing TALES and other horror comics.
“What usually seems to be behind banning books is an attempt to
repress ideas that may offer alternative political views. This is
not only un-American -- blatantly violating the very concept of free
speech -- but it is assuming that people are unable to come to their
own informed conclusions.”



Both editions of TALES #8, which will be on sale in October, will
contain Gaines Mifsud’s editorial and are identical except for their
covers. In writer-artist Christian Zanier’s “She Who Would Rule the
World” (a story unconnected to Governor Palin, by the way), a pair of
misguided scientists help turn a homeless woman into a near-
invincible, power-hungry being bent on becoming a human weapon of
mass destruction. In addition, horror novelist Joe R. Lansdale
(winner of Bram Stoker horror awards for best-sellers such as Leather
Maiden, Bubba Ho-Tep, and The Bottoms) and his brother, John L.
Lansdale, write “Virtual Hoodoo,” drawn by James Romberger, about a
video-game company employee who takes gruesome mystical revenge after
an idea of his is stolen.



TALES FROM THE CRYPT, published bi-monthly and cover-priced at $3.95,
is a 48-page full-color revival of the classic 1950s horror comic
book. Half of the copies will feature the Palin cover, and half will
feature the standard cover.



You can order TALES FROM THE CRYPT through NBM Publishing at
800-886-1223.

For previews and more, visit www.papercutz.com and http://
www.myspace.com/papercutzcomics.