The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories #2
"Beauty and the Beach!" is a chilling tale from The EC Archives: Shock Suspenstories #2, a 2022 Dark Horse release that reprints a classic story written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, illustrated with stark precision by Wally Wood and colored with haunting clarity by Marie Severin. When a man released after a 15-year sentence for theft reunites with the woman who vowed to wait for him, their tense meeting spirals into a moment of desperate violence, leaving him clinging to a fading neon sign that holds the key to his past. The cover, a striking collaboration by Al Feldstein and Albert B. Feldstein, captures the story’s grim, suspenseful tone.
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A hotel clerk steals $100,000 from a diamond merchant and then rents a safety deposit box years in advance under the name 'Brad Gilbert'. He serves 15 years for the theft, then meets with the girl who promised to wait for him because she wants the money. Unable to remember the name he used, the girl berates his inability to recall the name, and he slashes her face with a steak knife. As the police close in on him, he jumps off a roof, clutching at letters of a sign, and, as he lies dying on the pavement, he sees the remaining neon letters spell out 'Brad Gilbert'.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).