Get our latest staff recommendations, award news and digital catalog links right to your inbox.
EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1
Table of Contents
About The Book
2025 Ringo Award Nominee - Best Anthology
Compelled to OBLIVION, driven to ENTROPY, all life in our cosmos can only end in one place: COMPLETE ANNIHILATION! For the first time in 70 years, the limitless fury of EC Comics rages back to life to shred the very fabric of the universe itself—and wrench bizarre tales of time and space into our dimensional plane!
Our guides across this riveting introduction to a cosmic maelstrom of strange extraterrestrial entities, malevolent scientists, and terrifying technological catastrophe? Learn to fear the void with the irradiated imaginations of writers Corinna Bechko (Invisible Republic, The Space Between), Christopher Cantwell (Thanos), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood), Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT), Stephanie Phillips (Phoenix), Ben H. Winters (The Last Policeman), and more as they collide with the wondrously destructive visions of artists Jonathan Case (Green River Killer), Kano (Gotham Central), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Alison Sampson (Department of Truth), Artyom Topilin (I Hate This Place), Caitlin Yarsky (Black Hammer: Reborn) and many more!
The unpredictable return of EC Comics continues here with the quantum comics event of the millennium! Galaxies will collapse. Space-time will be distorted. And your very will to exist, too, shall be broken. . . . Just remember: It's all in the name of SCIENCE!
Collecting Cruel Universe #1–5.
About The Illustrators
Kano is the pseudonym of Spanish comic book artist Jose Ángel Cano López. Kano began his career at the age of 13, editing Spanish-language comics fanzines. At 15, he was already doing layouts and design work for Planeta-DeAgostini. Kano is a founding member of the Spanish magazine about comics, Krazy Comics, as well as the Phoenix Studio, which provided design, illustration, and publishing services and was eventually merged with Camaleón Ediciones, a publishing house that Kano worked for in his early days. He has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics. He worked on a long run of Action Comics, including the “Emperor Joker” storyline, as well as Gotham Central and Swamp Thing. He worked on Daredevil, Iron Fist, Man Thing, and Beta Ray Bill Godhunter for Marvel, as well as others.
Dan McDaid is a comics writer and artist based in Scotland. He started out writing and drawing adventures for the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine, and he has since gone on to well-received runs on properties as diverse as Big Trouble in Little China, Judge Dredd, and Firefly. Following acclaimed work on TKO’s pulp blockbuster The Fearsome Dr. Fang, McDaid drew the swashbuckling horror Sea Dogs for Joe Hill's Hill House imprint and DC Comics. His most recent project is the self-penned title, sci-fi mystery DEGA published by Oni Press.
Caitlin Yarsky is a comic book artist based in Portland, Oregon. Her first two series were Sean Lewis'; Coyotes and Bliss at Image Comics. She was the main artist for Jeff Lemire';s Black Hammer Reborn series at Dark Horse, drew a DC one-shot called Olympus: Rebirth with Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad, and has since drawn Catwoman and back-ups for Shazam (with variant covers from different publishers in between). She is currently working for DC and has started writing and drawing her own series.
Jonathan Case is a cartoonist from the great Pacific Northwest. His 2015 graphic novel, The New Deal (author/artist, Dark Horse), was a nominee for the Reuben, Harvey, and Oregon Book awards for best graphic album. In 2012, he won an Eisner Award for Green River Killer, A True Detective Story (Dark Horse). His other books include Dear Creature (author/artist, Dark Horse), Batman ’66 (artist, DC), Superman: American Alien (artist, DC), and Over the Garden Wall: Distillatoria and Over the Garden Wall: Circus Friends (author, BOOM!).
Artyom Trakhanov is a Siberian comic artist and video game illustrator living in Belgrade. He has worked on Undertow (Image Comics), Turncoat (Boom! Studios), The 7 Deadly Sins (TKO Presents) and First Knife (Image Comics).
Javier Ferna´ndez is a comic book artist from Granada, Spain, known for his interior art and covers for DC Comics as well as the #1 bestselling book of 2021 — King Spawn. His first professional job was in 2010, working on titles for Kickstart Comics. In 2011, he began working with Marvel Comics on Captain America. He also worked on a series of Magneto issues in 2014. Since 2011, Javier has been a regular on many successful DC Comics titles, such as Nightwing, Detective Comics, Teen Titans, Justice League, Green Arrow, and many more.In 2021, Javier began working as lead artist on King Spawn, one of Todd McFarlane’s expanded Spawn Universe titles, published by Image Comics. Currently, he continues working on upcoming issues of this modern classic, where his sequential storytelling is beyond compare. He also has recently created some amazing covers for Predator, New Mutants, and a short story about Spiderman in the bestseller Marvel Zombies: Black, White & Blood.
David Lapham began his career in the comic industry at the age of twenty working at Valiant Comics learning his craft illustrating and helping to create many original titles, including Shadowman, Harbinger and Rai. He left Valiant to work at Defiant Comics where he co-created Warriors Of Plasm with Jim Shooter. David turned his back on the superhero genre in 1995 to co-found the independent publishing company, El Capitan Books, which began publishing David's comic series Stray Bullets. Lapham has won Eisner Awards for his work on Stray Bullets and Murder Me Dead.
Leomacs is an Italian comic book artist based in Rome, Italy. In Italy, Leomacs has worked extensively for Sergio Bonelli Editore drawing Tex and Dylan Dog. For DC Comics, he has recently collaborated on Lucifer and the seven-part Hill House Comics thriller Basketful of Heads written by Joe Hill. He has drawn the French graphic novel The Invisible Mountain, written by Pierre Makyo and Frédéric Richaud, published by Delcourt. Leomacs and Riccardo La Bella collaborated on the graphic novel Apprendre à maîtriser son destin, Mémoire Vive written by Pierre Makyo for Glénat édition. Leomacs has collaborated as a storyboard artist with Colingwood & Co. for the animated series Horrid Henry. He has also realized storyboards and animated sequences for the film Nessuno mi troverá directed by Egidio Eronico.
Riley Rossmo is an illustrator and creator currently making comics and character designs. He started illustrating in 2004 where he mostly worked in advertising, editorial illustration, and character design. His first comic series, Proof, from Image, came out in 2007. Since then he’s made comics with Image Comics (Cowboy Ninja Viking, Green Wake, Bedlam, Rasputin), Marvel (Daken The Dark, Wolverine) and currently DC Comics (Batman, Batman/Shadow, Constantine the Hellblazer, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter).
David Rubín is a Spanish cartoonist born in Ourense, Galicia, in 1977. He’s the visionary creator behind The Hero, co-creator and illustrator on Ether with Matt Kindt, Cosmic Detective with Matt Kindt and Jeff Lemire, Battling Boy: The Rise of Aurora West with Paul Pope and J.T. Petty, Rumble with John Arcudi, the Eisner nominated Beowulf graphic novel with Santiago García, and Grand Hotel Abyss with Marcos Prior, among others. David lives in a town close to Madrid, Spain, with his family and a dog.
Alison Sampson is an award winning London-based artist, drawing comics and illustrations in the fields of horror (Hellboy, Winnebago Graveyard, the 2023 Eisner nominated Department of Truth, Werewolf by Night), fantasy (Sleeping Beauties Vols. 1 & 2), science fiction (The Blue Tarantula), and adventure (Hit-Girl: India),and more. Recent writing credits (also drawing) are the Tori Amos anthology, Little Earthquakes, which received four Eisner nominations in 2023, Iron Maiden/Z2, and for Trina Robbins's upcoming Won't Back Down benefit anthology for Planned Parenthood.
Product Details
- Publisher: Oni Press (July 1, 2025)
- Length: 176 pages
- ISBN13: 9781637157855
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
“Now, like the ghosts and zombies who haunted many of its pages, EC is back from the beyond [...] with the same radical spirit as their predecessors.”
– LA Review of Books
“Reviving the Entertaining Comics brand, Cruel Universe could have merely cashed in on the nostalgia of the brand's legacy in the world of horror in sci-fi, but the experience goes above and beyond expectation to deliver tales of terror that feel both timeless and incredibly contemporary. From a twist of fate using a black hole to time travel to the true cost of being an intergalactic gladiator, [Cruel Universe] offers up drastically different stories that push the boundaries of technology, science, morality, and mortality. Each story feels like we're watching an all-new episode of Black Mirror, given the overall fresh feeling and modern voice of each story, and while other throwback comics might aim to channel a familiar art style, Cruel Universe doesn't rest on its laurels and, while some of the compositions of the panels might evoke the '50s and '60s style, the overall aesthetic is entirely modern. Oni Press had their work cut out for them with this revival of EC, and not only did they meet expectations, but they completely shattered them."
– Comicbook.com
"Twists, turns, and tantalizing sci-fi storytelling await you in Cruel Universe.... I can safely say the sci-fi side of EC Comics is in great hands with these incredible stories."
– AIPT Comics
“The imagination and talent involved in Cruel Universe makes the anthology an exciting and intriguing read… Cruel Universe is fun, shocking, and contains moments of poignancy that made the original EC titles so dangerous and popular. The possibilities are endless.”
– Monkeys Fighting Robots
“Really well done.”
– Comics Beat
“A welcome throwback to the science-fiction of yesteryear. It contains four tales, each of which is a total banger… Even expecting a twist ending, as in the finest Tales of the Crypt and Twilight Zone episodes, I am not ashamed to say that most of these stories got me… And the art teams are uniformly amazing… The new Golden Age starts here!”
– KABOOOOOM!
“I’m so glad this comic exists. [Cruel Universe] features some great, hard-hitting science fiction stories that will have you guessing until the very end. I particularly loved ‘Solo Shift,’ which might be my favorite anthology story of the year. Oni Press is proving they are indeed the best spot for EC Comics.”
– Comic Frontier
“It’s a good time to be an EC fan… I’m really excited how they take an EC approach to contemporary times.”
– Dads from the Crypt
“Phenomenal... A truly immersive and captivating reading experience… From mind-bending stories to the intricate artwork, every detail has been carefully crafted to draw us in and keep us on the edge of our seats. … The revival of EC Comics not only has met expectations, but has soared far past them and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. EC Cruel Universe #1 is a grand triumph for Oni Press and a treat to us fans of science fiction. With compelling short stories, amazing artwork and a fresh take on the old school anthologies of older EC Comics, this debut issue sets a new standard for modern comics with classic themes.”
– Capes and Tights
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
-
Book Cover Image (jpg): EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1
Trade Paperback 9781637157855

















