[melbee]

I have always been a fan of Ray Bradbury and find his stories both imaginary and ground-breaking.  His literary contribution to the field of fantasy and science fiction is quite outstanding, setting the bar forever at a new, previously unimagined level that now other writers can only strive to attain.  Technically, his skill as a wordsmith was outstanding and quite original, using emotive word pictures to stimulate the imagination and to create atmosphere and mood within his stories, e.g. spiders 'touching their way across the floor', and describing the tiny forelimbs of the huge tyrannosaurus as its 'delicate watchmakers hands'. 
Finding that some of his stories had been used in comic books was therefore a pleasant surprise to me, but I must confess that at first I was a little skeptical about their being able to be transposed successfully to this quite different medium.  But thanks to great classic comic book artists like Al Feldstein etc., these stories were given a fresh, new look, and were equally successful in capturing the original 'Bradbury' magic!  In short, we (Bradbury fans) have much to thank William M.Gaines and EC comics for!    As well as adaptations of his stories appearing in certain EC horror and crime titles, below is a list of the science fiction EC titles that featured his work...

'The Rocketman' and 'Kaleidoscope' ('Home To Stay')       Weird Fantasy #13  (May 1952)
'There Will Come Soft Rains...'                                     Weird Fantasy #17  (Jan  1953)
'The Long Years!'                                                      Weird Science #17  (Jan  1953)
'Mars Is In Heaven!'                                                   Weird Science #18  (Mar 1953)
'Zero Hour'                                                               Weird Fantasy #18  (Mar 1953)
'King of the Grey Spaces!'                                           Weird Fantasy #19  (May 1953)
'The One Who Waits'                                                  Weird Science #19  (May 1953)
'Changeling' ('Surprise Package')                                   Weird Science #20  (July 1953)
'I Rocket'                                                                 Weird Fantasy #20  (July 1953)
'The Million Year Picnic'                                               Weird Fantasy #21  (Sept 1953)
'Punishment Without Crime'                                          Weird Science #21  (Sept 1953)
'Outcast Of The Stars'                                                Weird Science #22  (Nov 1953)
'The Silent Towns'                                                      Weird Fantasy #22  (Nov 1953)
'The Flying Machine'                                        Weird Science-Fantasy #23  (Mar 1954)
'A Sound Of Thunder'                                       Weird Science-Fantasy #25  (Sept 1954)

Anybody else out there shares my enthusiasm for Bradbury's tales of the imagination??   

[EHowie60]

I like a lot of Bradbury's work. They did a comic version of "There Will Come Soft Rains"? I would love to see that, that story always gives me the chills. I read part of "The Rocket Man" out loud for a speech class in high school. It would be great to see some of his work in comic form.

[crashryan]

The EC adaptation of "There Will Come Soft Rains" was a doozy. Illustrated by Wallace Wood. I first saw it in a 70s paperback reprinting EC science-fiction stories. I never forgot it.

[neil meikle]

Yes "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a beautiful comic story isn't it? I first read it in one of those large size 64 page collections Russ Cochran produced in the late eighties, Wally Wood certainly did a wonderful job.
    It's a great shame EC comics can't be featured on this site. However there is at least one Ray Bradbury comic adaptation that can and is. Issue #7 of Toby Comics Tales of Horror contains an unofficial adaptation of "The Fog Horn" titled "The Beast From The Deep", it's the same story that was made into the movie "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms". Also, while they're not comics, all four issues of Mr. Bradburys science fiction fanzine " Futuria Fantasia" can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg.

[melbee]

Thanks very much for all the additional background info!  As you say, it is unfortunate that EC comics are not available on this site, but, ah well, this world isn't perfect yet eh?     I visited Project Gutenberg and made the downloads.  Life has been a little hectic over the past few days and I've not yet had time to read the results yet, but I'm certain I won't be disappointed.    Thanks again for your reply!   

[melbee]

What a combination Ray Bradbury and Wally Wood made!  Wally's relatively early death was a sad loss to comics.  Yet reading and appreciating a good story in a comic book is never simply thanks to the skill of one individual, be they writer or artist, editor or publisher.  Each published comic book story inevitably represents the coming together of the skills of a veritable team of individuals, each one contributing and working closely with all the others.  This is a unique artform, and the individual talents of those producing comic books of quality we greatly appreciate -especially is this so with those associated with this site.    True, Bradbury had justly attained great heights as an author in a literary sense, and no-one can take that away from him.  But subsequently transposing his work to film, tv, and comic books etc undeniably required the contribution of special additional skills.  Wally Wood was an example of just such an individual who did exactly that.