EC Books

Gemstone Publishing continues their truly outstanding reprints of EC Comics with their latest release, Crime Suspenstories, Vol. 1. This hardcover volume reprints the first six issues of the original series, published from 1950 - 1951. EC Comics remain vastly popular today even when most of their comics publishing peers have long since been forgotten. There are a few reasons for this; EC comics had a level of quality to them that outshined all of their competition in the 1950's, even DC and Timely/Atlas. While most comic publishers were catering to kids, EC was putting out stories that appealed to an older audience. They also had a stable of artists that was unparalleled at the time.

While their horror comics like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror have gained the most notoriety down through the years, EC published all types of comics. Crime SuspenStories may not have been a horror title in technical terms, but these lurid tales of violence and murder were definitely horrific. These tales were heavily influenced by crime noir writers and films of the period. One of the best examples is Wally Wood's Death's Double-Cross. The story is told in first person perspective from a wife yearning for love from her wealthy husband who only cares about work. She plots to kill her husband with the aid of his exact twin brother. But when the deed is done, the brother begins to act more and more like her husband. She doesn't know which brother died and to which one she's now married.

In Dead Ringer, a two-bit hood discovers he's a nearly identical look-alike to a millionaire who is the victim of amnesia. He plots to kill the millionaire and take his place, conveniently recovering from his amnesia. But this hood soon learns the man he replaced has made a lot of enemies.

Jack Kamen's Contract for Death is another fantastic tale. A man who is about to commit suicide is offered $5,000 to wait one month before killing himself by a mysterious doctor. He agrees, living it up to the fullest on the five grand. But when he falls in love, he tries to renege on his deal and is forced to find a substitution for his own body.

The Haunt of Fear makes several appearances in the book with stories with a decidedly stronger horror slant to them and introduced by that title's mascot, The Old Witch. The best is Partially Dissolved in which an illusionist concocts a special metal alloy that is mixed with calcium that will dissolve in water. He plans to use it to perform astounding feats of escapism. But his scheming assistant, who bears more than a little resemblance to Bela Lugosi, has his own plans.

Other standout stories include The Giggling Killer, Blood Red Wine, and Jury Duty. In addition to the stories, writer max Allan Collins provides the books foreword as well as a several "crime blog" articles. Marie Severin's colors have been re-mastered and look stunning. If you only know EC's horror comics, you have to check out Crime SuspenStories. These stories are not as widely acclaimed but are every bit as good.

I stumbled across this book years ago in a Border's remainder bin, and on a whim decided to see what other people thought of it. I was surprised to see that not even one person had reviewed it yet! Overall, this book is a strong collection of short stories, each one containing completely believable, if not always sympathetic characters. If you have read and liked The Mermaid's Singing, you'll probably like this one, since it shares a lot of similar themes, though Mary Morrissy's writing is stronger.

I believe my friend and fellow woodlot manager Wally Skyrman first introduced me to an earlier edition of this book, co-authored by Alan Campbell III, Oregon State University Extension Forester for Jackson County, now retired. The book has been revised a couple of times, first in July 2003 and now April 2005. This revision now includes beautiful color photographs, contributed by Edward C. Jenson.
I like the organization of the book for its inclusion of forest types within the state. There are eleven forest types in Oregon, described beginning on page 122. The eleven types are Douglas Fir Forests, Sitka Spruce/Western Hemlock Forests, Siskiyou Mixed-conifer Forests, Coast Redwood Forests, Urban Forests, Hardwood Forests, Ponderosa Pine Forests, Lodgepole Pine Forests, Subalpine Forests, Western Juniper Forests, Western Larch Forests.
Another delightful feature of the book is its usefulness for tree species identification. Using a system taught at Oregon State University, dichotomous branching (pun intended) is as simple as the childhood game of Animal, Vegetable or Mineral, yet effective enough to assist the woodland manager or weekend forest traveler in narrowing down a certain genus-species for any Oregon tree of interest.
At $12.00 list price, it is cheap by today's standards for any text of value.
Limitations: This is a book dealing with Oregon's trees, yet any visitor to Oregon who is interested in trees would be greatly benefited by having such a book for reference. The technique of "dichotomous branching" (see note above) alone makes this book a practical and wonderful science text for the casual forest tree enthusiast and woodlands manager alike.

Peter Coffey's book is a well researched and thoughtful piece. The light it sheds on it's subject is a candle in this demon haunted world. Truly this is a great, nay seminal masterpiece.

Read Two-fisted Tales as a youngster and loved them. Great to be able to revisit those days and the great stories.

This book covers a difficult topic in exactly the right amount of detail. For anyone studying EU competition law, its without doubt one of the best guides, and a must for the bookshelf.

The EC Merger Control Regulation: Right of Defence, a Critical Analysis of DG COMP Practice and Community Courts' Jurisprudence by Mihalis Kekelekis (International Competition Law Series: Kluwer Law International) Merger control constitutes a well-established pillar of EU competition law. However, the drafters of the Community competition merger legislation, in view of the need to attain the imperative goal of market integration. put more emphasis on the clarification of the substantive rules applied by the Commission through enhancing its supervisory powers than on the necessity for protecting the defendant parties or any involved third parties in merger proceedings. Here for the first time is an in-depth analysis of the rights of notifying parties and third parties in merger proceedings, as reflected in the administrative practice of the Commission and the case law of the Community courts.
Following a detailed exposition of the operation of the Merger Regulation and its procedures, this study covers not only the generally approved fundamental rights, such as the right to be heard or the right to access the Commission's file, but also all the other procedural rights involved in merger proceedings, such as the right of notifying parties to propose commitments outside the time-limit required. It examines the rights of the parties from the pre-notification stage through the first and second phases of the proceedings, with particular emphasis on notification, preliminary investigation, statement of objections, access to the file, oral hearing, commitments, and adoption of the final decision.
Among the issues covered in depth are:
the value of pre-notification meetings;
preparation of the Form CO and the danger of incompleteness;
derogation procedure;
commitments procedure in phase one and phase two investigations;
statement of objections, reply and time-linits;
limits to access to the file and oral hearing; and
the concept of 'sufficient interest'.
The study culminates with recommendations for reform of, and improvement in, the rights of notifying parties and third parties, including amendments to the Regulation and a further suggestion for the adoption of a Notice providing guidance on how the rights of these parties should be taken into account in merger proceedings.
A valuable set of annexes includes the texts of the Merger Regulation, its implementing Commission Regulation, the DG Competition Best Practices on the Conduct of EC merger control proceedings, as well as indicative diagrams of the first and second phase of the EC merger proceedings.
As a detailed examination of the rights of notifying parties and third parties in EC merger proceedings, and an important blueprint for detailing the rights of these parties, this study will be of immeasurable value for practitioners and business people involved in European business merger activities, as well as for interested academics.
It examines the rights of the parties in the light of a step-by-step analysis of the merger proceedings, i.e. pre-notification stage, first phase and second phase of the proceedings). Particularly the stages of notification, preliminary investigation, statement of objections, access to the file, oral hearing, commitments and of the adoption of the final decision are examined.
The conclusions of this book suggest that there must be a need to balance the efficient enforcement of competition rules with the protection of the notifying and third parties' procedural rights. Consequently, suggestions for further reform of the Merger Regulation and of its internal procedures are presented and the adoption of a Notice on the rights of notifying parties and third parties in merger proceedings is suggested, aiming to ensure that the Commission is fair and objective in applying its procedural rules.
The material, which this research is based on, is derived not only from the basic bibliography on merger and competition policy, the decisions of the Commission and the Community courts in this respect and interviews undertaken with a number of Competition lawyers in Brussels, but also from practical experience that I gained through my internships in the Merger Task Force of the European Commission as well as in international law firms in Brussels.
Excerpt: This study has attempted to present an analysis of the rights of notifying parties and third parties in EC merger proceedings, as reflected in the administrative practice of the Commission and the case law of the Community courts. This study was placed in the context of the broader ambitions of EU Competition policy, i.e. the maintenance of effective and fair competition and the establishment of internal market integration, with no barriers to trade between Member States, as derived from Article 3g EC, which states that a system of undistorted competition in the internal market should be ensured.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned ambitions, a Regulation on, among others, merger control has been adopted by the Council, as a legislative measure, to ensure that all mergers affecting firms established in the Community are in harmony with the maintenance of an effective and fair competition.' In this context, the Commission has been endowed with far-reaching supervisory powers to protect market structures by preventing the creation or strengthening of dominant positions that would impede effective competition within the common market or in a substantial part of it (Article 2(3) of the Regulation).
However, as it has also been mentioned in the introduction of this study, it seems that the drafters of the Community competition merger legislation, in view of the need to attain the imperative goal of market integration, as laid down in Article 3g EC, had put more emphasis on the clarification of the substantive rules applied by the Commission through enhancing its supervisory powers, than on the necessity for protecting the rights of the notifying or any involved third parties in merger proceedings.'
It can be argued that, one the one hand, a high degree of procedural protection can certainly improve the transparency of the proceedings. On the other hand, however, such protection may do more harm than good and undermine the efficiency of proceedings and the proper decision-making, especially under the Regulation, where the Commission applies very strict time-limits.' To this end, pleas alleging infringement of the rights of defence have been rejected by the Community courts, if the final outcome of the case would not have been different even in case of their observance. In the Endemol v. Commission case, for example, the applicant, i.e. one of the notifying parties in the Commission's administrative proceedings, argued that the Commission infringed its rights of defence in the way in which it dealt with its right of access to the file. In particular, the applicant alleged that the Commission acquired new information after the parties to the concentration had been granted access to the file and that they were never informed of that fact or given the opportunity to see this information. The CFI accepted the Commission's argument that the principles governing access to the file in merger proceedings must reconcile the protection of the parties' rights of defence and the wider public interest in effective scrutiny of concentrations, and it followed holding that:
"even if the Commission had disclosed the information, which was, moreover, of confidential nature, the applicant would not have been able to challenge it."
Also, in the Kaysersberg v. Commission case, the CFI ruled that the third parties' right to be heard must be adapted to the need for speed, which is a criterion that characterises the nature of the Regulation.'
Consequently, according to the administrative practice of the Commission and the case law of the Community courts, the rights of notifying parties and third parties in merger proceedings must be derived from the balancing of two factors: efficiency to reflect the proper decision-making and fairness. An analysis of the way the need for efficiency and speed of assessment has been and should be balanced with the protection of the notifying parties' rights of defence and the third parties' right to be heard was the ultimate purpose of this study.
In view of the fact that no specific legislation exists at the current time in the Community legal order for the protection of these rights, this study has concluded with suggestions for reform of, and improvement in, the rights of notifying and third parties in merger proceedings, as well as with suggestions for the elaboration of a new Commission Notice to deal with this subject.
I believe that the adoption of a legislative measure, even in the form of a non-binding notice, concerning the protection of the parties' rights in merger proceedings would increase legal certainty and improve the accountability and performance of the Commission. In addition, applications by the parties to the concentration or any interested third parties before the Community courts challenging Commission's decisions for infringements of basic procedural rights within its administrative proceedings are expected to diminish. The recent developments with respect to the general right of access to information from EU institutions and the discussions regarding the alignment of a single regulatory framework for both the general and the administrative right to access information can constitute an important stimulus in that respect.'
In any case, however, and even if such a legislative measure is not to be adopted, the Community courts should continue to operate in quite the same manner as they have already done, i.e. they should continue to formulate standards of procedural fairness and define clearly the extent of protection provided by procedural rights under the Regulation. Such doctrinal assessments would certainly constitute an important step towards the establishment of a coherent procedural framework for EC merger proceedings.

The opener "When I was about five, I used to lie in bed and think about my past.." told me I was in for a somewhat comical and highly personal journey. This captivating `memoir', told through the eyes of five-year-old Martin Donnally, is set in his grandfather's house, the "Villa Vanilla", in particular in `his' garden, in 1948, the year that "Our Lot" (the relatively `liberal' Jan Smuts) lost the general (only whites voted) election and the "New Lot" (the Nats) won, and the year his mother "left him" for another man, evokes the world of a five-year-old with humour and insight - his larger-than-life, eccentric Irish Catholic extended family: Grandpa who sings and races horses; chain smoking ascerbic 'excommunicated' Auntie Fee, who sides with the ogres in fairy tales and who makes up her own heroic stories about Martin's dead father; and most of all, Georgie, the Zulu servant and Martin's `nannie' and confidant. But into this world arrives dour, racist, Presbytarian, cruel Gordon, his mother's husband-to-be. The hints are there from the beginning of the imminent disintegration of Martin's seemingly timeless and Edenic world: "I was at home in the garden , but the garden wasn't my home". The novel resonated especially for me, having grown up in Johannesburg in the same period. In an interview Hope described his novel as "not a view from the top down, but from knee-height up", admitting its autobiographical nature, his mixing of his childhood memory with family history, with a crucial moment in South Africa's history and "a bit of poetic licence". Readers will enjoy its piognant blend of humour and its sense of imminent seismic and irrevocable change.

Unlike much EC material that's been reprinted many times over the years, EC's Picto Fiction has seldom if ever been reprinted since it's mid-Fifties debut. It failed to find a market niche back then. Perhaps these extremely intense and sometimes contrarian tales weren't in sync with the pressured conformity of the era. Also, many magazine and comic distributors were still holding a grudge against EC publisher Bill Gaines and that too contributed to the magazines' demise. All four Picto Fiction titles are reprinted here (Shock Illustrated, Crime Illustrated, Terror Illustrated and Confessions Illustrated). There are many compelling yarns and absolutely incredible art from EC's finest. I recommend this set without hesitation. You will be wowed.

An absolute must for those who want to get to know themselves (and others) and set their "ideals" to live by! It takes you step by step through the process. Every professional in a capacity to counsel people and couples should be using this book. Every Church, School and Home should be using this book for the benefit of all. This book should be brought back into print yesterday!