First Look: The Holidays Get Gruesome in EC Comics’ SHIVER SUSPENSTORIES 2 #1 – On Sale December 10th!
EC’s newest annual tradition returns in a macabre giant-size celebration of suspense with ghoulish gifts from Oni Press– beginning with a look inside “Eight Vengeful Nights” by Philip K Award winner Ben H. Winters and shocking artist Sami Kivelä
COVER A BY DUSTIN WEAVER
PORTLAND, OR (DECEMBER 8, 2025) - THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, THAT’S NOT SANTA COMING DOWN THE CHIMNEY… IT’S A TORRENT OF BLOOD, GUTS, AND GORE IN THE IMMORTAL TRADITION OF EC COMICS! Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award–winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997, and William M. Gaines Agent, Inc. are taking readers on a horrific holiday thrill ride in SHIVER SUSPENSTORIES 2 #1! Ahead of the 56-page holiday special ’s release this week on December 10th, Oni Press is proud to reveal a first look inside the short story “Eight Vengeful Nights” by Edgar Award nominee and Philip K. Dick Award winner Ben H. Winters (Benjamin, The Last Policeman Trilogy) and riveting artist Sami Kivelä (Abbott). This surprising tale of how a young man’s mysterious Hanukkah presents help him reap revenge on his oppressors will have you taking stock of your enemies … and searching your stash for your very own weapon of opportunity!
“I'm delighted to once again be a part of Oni's twisted look at the holiday season, and especially proud to be representing the traditions of my own personal forefathers, taking a classic tale of revenge and putting a dreidel-style spin on it,” said writer Ben H. Winters. “Young Noah is sick and tired of being the butt of his classmates' taunting and cruelty, but never did he imagine that the joyful festival of Hanukkah would present him the opportunity to take his eight-fold revenge. Maybe let's not show this one to my mother, or my rabbi...although in the end I think ‘Eight Vengeful Nights’ delivers a message in the spirit of the season.”
Also included in this year’s giant-sized tome of gruesomely gift-wrapped delights: We’re tying perpetual naughty-listers David M. Booher (Canto), Melissa Flores (Biker Mice from Mars), George Northy (Yuletide), and Ben H. Winters (Benjamin) to the dried-out Christmas tree in the family parlor . . . and gathering ‘round as artistic Tormentors-in-training Lukas Ketner (Count Crowley), Sami Kivelä (Abbott), Leomacs (Benjamin), and Dan McDaid (Shazam!) throw a few lit matches their way to get this old-fashioned solstice sacrifice started in style!
Yes, we know: It smells like dinner might be getting a little overdone! Never fear, because EC’s latest installment of this time-honored holiday tradition also comes complete with an extra-added wintertime crime classic by EC master and comics legend Johnny Craig —newly restored back to its authentic original coloring! As you sift through the charred remains, just remember: SHIVER SUSPENSTORIES 2 is here to bring the horror back to the holidays . . . and we wouldn’t want it any other way!
Celebrate the horrors of the holidays with a cornucopia of ice-cold covers by Dustin Weaver (Epitaphs from the Abyss), Adam Hughes (Catwoman), Shawn McManus (Fables), and Rian Hughes (The Multiversity), EC Comics is chilled to the bone to deliver this winter’s most frostbitten journey yet on December 10th – only in SHIVER SUSPENSTORIES 2 #1!
For more updates on Oni Press, visit them on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.
SHIVER SUSPENSTORIES 2 #1 (ONE-SHOT)
WRITTEN BY DAVID M. BOOHER, MELISSA FLORES, GEORGE NORTHYBEN H. WINTERS & MORE
ART BY LUKAS KETNER, SAMI KIVELÄ, LEOMACS, DAN McDAID & MORE
COVER A BY DUSTIN WEAVER
COVER B BY ADAM HUGHES
EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY SHAWN McMANUS
B&W ARTIST EDITION VARIANT (1:20) BY DUSTIN WEAVER
ARCHIVE EDITION VARIANT (1:50) BY RIAN HUGHES
ON SALE DECEMBER 10, 2025 | $8.99 | 56 PGS. | FC
IOC: 10/25/2025
FOC: 11/17/2025
INTERIOR ART BY SAMI KIVELÄ
COVER A BY DUSTIN WEAVER
COVER B BY ADAM HUGHES
EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY SHAWN McMANUS
B&W ARTIST EDITION VARIANT (1:20) BY DUSTIN WEAVER
ARCHIVE EDITION VARIANT (1:50) BY RIAN HUGHES
About EC Comics
As the birthplace of Tales from the Crypt, MAD magazine, Weird Science, and more of the most influential and celebrated comic series ever published, EC Comics has cemented itself as one of the central nerves of American pop culture with a legacy that spans more than seven decades. From 1944 to 1956, EC—established as “Educational Comics” by founder M.C. Gaines and later rebranded “Entertaining Comics” under the leadership of publisher and editor William M. Gaines—led a creative renaissance for the comics industry that, for the first time, elevated the once-derided comics medium into the echelons of English literature and high art. Heralded as “one of the great explosions of vox-pop literature” by Time magazine and “fiercely honest, politically adversarial, [and] visually masterful” by The Comics Journal, EC’s line of comics books—which collectively sold more than ten million copies annually at their peak—entertained and informed in equal measure, using brilliantly crafted tales of horror, science fiction, satire, and battlefield conflict to critique and subvert America's dark impulses toward violence, racism, inequity, environmental destruction, and war.
Forcibly shuttered by the Comics Code Authority—a pro-censorship group specifically tasked with eradicating EC’s illuminating influence from the American comic book industry—in 1956, EC’s unique brand of subversive storytelling lived on through the continued success of MAD magazine, which would fuel American counterculture through the death of publisher William M. Gaines in 1992. EC’s titles and stories have been adapted in a number of media—including HBO's long-running Tales from the Crypt franchise of television series and feature films—and continue to be celebrated by multiple generations of comic creators, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians as a seminal influence.
Today, EC Comics’ canon of classic stories can continuously be found in print through new editions at Dark Horse Comics, Taschen, Fantagraphics, and IDW Publishing. In 2024, EC announced a new partnership with multiple Eisner- and Harvey Award–winning publisher Oni Press to produce the first all-new EC Comics titles in nearly seventy years.