Lettering Legend Richard Starkings Resurrects EC COMICS’ Iconic Leroy Style for EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS and CRUEL UNIVERSE at Oni Press

Eisner Award-Winning Letterer of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE and MARVELS, ComicCraft Co-Founder Joins EC’s Star-Studded Resurgence at Oni Press

RICHARD STARKINGS

PORTLAND, OR (May 23, 2024) – THIS SUMMER, EC COMICS IS RETURNING WITH A VENGEANCE AT ONI PRESS – AND, THOUGH THE TIMES MAY HAVE CHANGED, THE LETTERING REMAINS THE SAME! Oni Press is proud to announce that Eisner Award-nominated and legendary letterer Richard Starkings will be joining the groundbreaking publisher’s upcoming resurrection of the notorious EC Comics line in the pages of July’s EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 and August’s CRUEL UNIVERSE #1to redefine EC’s iconic “Leroy” lettering style for the new millennium.

Over the course of a four-decade career, Richard Starkings has helped define the visual aesthetic and instantly recognizable iconography of the comics medium with contributions to hundreds of series across thousands of issues, including seminal works like Alan Moore & Brian Bolland’s BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, Kurt Busiek & Alex Ross’ MARVELS, Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale’s BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN and DARK VICTORY, and Brian Michael Bendis & David Finch’s NEW AVENGERS. Starkings is also an accomplished creator in his own right with his long-running Image Comics series ELEPHANTMEN earning multiple Eisner Awards nominations since its debut in 2006.

Said Starkings, who, naturally, lettered in his own quote:

Starkings joins a long list of pre-eminent comics talents in shepherding EC’s resurgence forward at Oni, where he will be contributing to EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS and CRUEL UNIVERSE alongside writer Jason Aaron (Thor, Southern Bastards), Brian Azzarello (Batman: Damned, 100 Bullets), Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia), Corinna Bechko (Invisible Republic), Cullen Bunn (The Sixth Gun), Christopher Cantwell (Briar), Cecil Castellucci (Shade the Changing Girl), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood), Joshua Hale Fialkov(The Bunker), J. Holtham (Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale), Jeff Jensen (HBO’s Watchmen, Green River Killer), Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT),Stephanie Phillips (Grim), Zac Thompson(Cemetery Kids Don’t Die), Ben H. Winters (CBS’ Tracker), and more; artists Tyler Crook (Harrow County) Kano (Gotham Central, Immortal Iron Fist), Peter Krause (Irredeemable), Klaus Janson (The Dark Knight Returns), Leomacs (Rogues), Malachi Ward (Black Hammer: The End), Dustin Weaver(Avengers, Paklis), Caitlin Yarsky (Black Hammer Reborn), designer Rian Hughes (The Multiversity); and cover artists Lee Bermejo (A Vicious Circle, Batman: Damned), Greg Smallwood (The Human Target), J.H. Williams III (Sandman: Overture, Promethea), and more to be revealed in the weeks and months ahead.

At Oni, Starkings has been tasked with recapturing the regimented form, grit, and texture of one of EC Comics’ most instantly recognizable traits: the publisher’s iconic “Leroy” lettering style – so-named for the mechanical lettering apparatus utilized by EC in the publisher’s 1950s heydey in lieu of hand lettering.

“We’re taking great pains to bring the power and intensity of EC’s genius-level storytelling conventions into 2024 without making them an exercise in nostalgia or slavishly reverential to how things might have been done in decades past. That being said, there was one classic EC detail that we knew needed to be preserved: The original Leroy lettering style, which still make EC’s stories – even when reduced down to a single panel – immediately recognizable at a distance. Knowing that we have a legendary talent of Richard Starkings’ caliber overseeing this vitally important aspect of the creative process behind EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS and CRUEL UNIVERSE is both an honor and a true joy,” said Oni Press President & Publisher Hunter Gorinson.

EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1

COVER A BY LEE BERMEJO

EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1

COVER B BY ANDREA SORRENTINO WITH DAVE STEWART

It all begins EC Comics surges out of the grave with a jugular-pounding, 40-page horror milestone on July 24th in EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 – featuring four self-contained exercises in adrenaline from Brian Azzarello (Batman: Damned) and Vlad Legostaev(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood) and Peter Krause (Irredeemable), J. Holtham (Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale) and Jorge Fornés (Batman), and Stephanie Phillips (Harley Quinn, Grim) and Phil Hester (Green Arrow), and more deadly surprises — including the first glimpse of EC’s new cast of horror hosts . . .!

CRUEL UNIVERSE #1

COVER A BY GREG SMALLWOOD

CRUEL UNIVERSE #1

COVER B BY J.H. WILLIAMS III

And then . . . Two short weeks later on August 7th, bizarre tales of time and space enter our dimensional plane on CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 – featuring 40, all-new pages of destructive wonder with cosmic implications from the irradiated imaginations of Hugo Award nominee Corinna Bechko (Invisible Republic, The Space Between) and Caitlin Yarsky (Black Hammer: Reborn), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood) and Jonathan Case (Green River Killer), Eisner Award nominee Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT) and Kano (Immortal Iron Fist), and Edgar Award winner Ben H. Winters (CBS’ Tracker, The Last Policeman) and Artyom Topilin (I Hate This Place)!

IN 2024, THE MOST NOTORIOUS NAME IN TERROR IS BACK! EC COMICS LIVES AGAIN AT ONI PRESS!

EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 (of 5)

WRITTEN BY BRIAN AZZARELLO, CHRIS CONDON, J. HOLTHAM & STEPHANIE PHILLIPS

ART BY JORGE FORNES, PHIL HESTER, PETER KRAUSE, VLAD LEGOSTAEV

COVER A BY LEE BERMEJO

COVER B BY ANDREA SORRENTINO WITH DAVE STEWART

EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY JAY STEPHENS

B&W ARTIST EDITION VARIANT (1:50) BY RIAN HUGHES

HORROR HOST VARIANT (1:100) BY DUSTIN WEAVER

FOIL COVER (GOLD) BY LEE BERMEJO

FOIL COVER (SILVER) BY ANDREA SORRENTINO WITH DAVE STEWART

BLANK COVER ALSO AVAILABLE

ON SALE JULY 24TH | $4.99 (STANDARD) | $7.99 (FOIL) | 40 PGS | FC

IOC: 05/30/2024

FOC: 07/01/2024

CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 (of 5)

WRITTEN BY CORINNA BECHKO, CHRIS CONDON, MATT KINDT & BEN H. WINTERS

ART BY JONATHAN CASE, KANO, 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

EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #2 (of 5)

WRITTEN BY JASON AARON, TYLER CROOK, MATT KINDT

ART BY TYLER CROOK, KLAUS JANSON, JORGE FORNES

COVER A BY LEE BERMEJO

COVER B BY ADAM POLLINA

EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY JAY STEPHENS

B&W ARTIST EDITION VARIANT (1:20) BY ADAM POLLINA

EC ARCHIVE VARIANT (1:50) BY RIAN HUGHES

ON SALE AUGUST 21ST, 2024 | $4.99 (STANDARD) |$ 7.99 (FOIL) | 40 PAGES | FC

IOC: 06/27/2024

FOC: 07/29/2024

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