Russ Cochran: 1937-2020

One of the most important people in the world of MAD and E.C. Comics that you’ve probably never heard of passed away this past Sunday. Russ Cochran was a publisher and comics archivist whose love of the comics medium allowed later generations access to, and the subsequent enjoyment of, the legendary EC Comics line, including MAD.

Russ published reprint collections of a number of terrific classic comics, but it was his The Complete EC Library that most people associate as his greatest endeavor. Over the course of 18 years starting in 1978, he published almost every EC comic in 66 hardbound volumes contained in 17 slipcases. The total contents of each issue was reprinted, including house ads, letters pages, text stories, and editorial content. Covers for each issue were printed in full color on glossy paper. However the interiors of the comics were reprinted in black and white, which was both good and bad. It was bad because the original comics were in color so it was not a full represntation of the original books, but it was good because of the source of the reprinted material.

Russ and E.C. Comics publisher Bill Gaines were friends, and he worked with Bill on producing these collections. Since Gaines kept all originals from all his comics under work-for-hire arrangements, these collections were compiled primarily from copies of the original artwork pages, not copies of the printed comics. This meant the art was as pristine and sharp as possible, in most cases sharper than they were in the original comics which were cheaply printed on terrible paper stock. They were also printed a lot larger than the original comics were. MAD got both a color and black and white collection (Russ’s reprints included MAD 1 to 23, when it was still a color comic book).

Russ did a lot to preserve the history of EC Comics and allowed many people to be able to enjoy this classic and brilliant work who might never have been able to see it. I never met the man but I have an entire shelf in my studio devoted to 8 of the 17 hardcover collections from his The Complete EC Library. These are some of the greatest comic books every created, and thanks to him I was able to enjoy and be inspired by them over the years. Thanks, Russ, and rest in peace.