Launched this past summer, the Oni Press-driven revival of EC has conjured up memories of Tales From The Crypt, Weird Science, and the other great EC titles of the past. The Richard Corben-illustrated variant cover of Epitaphs From The Abyss #1, which was given away only to those who attended Oni’s EC panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego, has definitely commanded a premium.

Back when EC was around the first time – in the 1950s – publisher William M. Gaines took steps to preserve the issues they had produced. They’re the rarest of the rare, vintage EC titles: the Gaines File copies, and they bring big prices.

“Having any EC comic in pristine, unread condition is already irresistible,” said Heritage Auctions Vice-President Barry Sandoval. “But the fact that the man in charge of the line was the one who archived the books, with a sense that they would be important later, takes their desirability to another level.”

Sandoval noted that a MAD #1 CGC 9.8, which sold for $96,000 in 2019, is among the pedigree’s numerous highlights, as is a Crime SuspenStories #22 CGC 9.4 that sold for $90,000 in September 2024.

“It always brings a smile to my face when we receive the Gaines File Copies on consignment for auction, and it’s been a privilege to have had the opportunity to sell over one thousand of them. It is most exciting to see them in their raw state, not yet holdered by a certification company. Often, that is how we have received them, as ungraded, and we sent them out for certification on behalf of auction sellers,” said Josh Nathanson, President of ComicLink.

Keep in mind these comics were published in the neighborhood of 70 years ago!

“They are always so flat, with such sharp edges, and often appear nicer than the certified grades. Visually beautiful, and of course always with compelling covers from the EC line. The story surrounding them is really interesting. It was so visionary for editor Bill Gaines to have set aside, mostly 12 of each issue, for the future, and in my mind, I can visualize with envy such pioneers in our hobby as Gaines, Bob Overstreet, and Russ Cochran sitting around a table ranking each example of every issue by relative grade,” Nathanson said.

“I don’t think there’s a pedigree more beloved than the William Gaines File Copies. A lot of that has to do with the emotional attachment we have to this publisher that most of us never even met. Collectors just think of Gaines as an old friend who’s responsible for a lot of our favorite comics and magazines. Those books were really traded around the playground, too, and the old MADs were often loved to death. Of course, a lot of those EC Comics were also killed off by concerned mothers,” said Vincent Zurzolo, Chief Operating Officer of Comic Connect.

“It feels like Gaines was doing us all a favor by putting aside those 12 copies of every classic EC comic. You see that Certificate of Authenticity, and it’s kind of heartwarming,” he said.

The Gaines File pedigree is one of the best-documented pedigreed collections of comic books ever to come into the marketplace. It has been widely accepted, frequently reported upon, and has possessed strong staying power since the comics were originally sold.

So, what is a comic book pedigree collection?

According to the as-yet still unpublished book The Guide To Comic Book Pedigrees, “A pedigreed collection must have been accumulated by one individual during the time the comics were released on the newsstand. This is a critical factor because a pedigree’s appeal comes from their homogenous quality and singular genesis. The books have aged together in the same environment, creating a uniform ‘feel’ that does not exist for comics in a collection with diverse origins.”

In short, a pedigreed collection must primarily consist of high quality comic books, must contain a substantial number of key or rare issues, or represent a significant portion of a particular genre, company, period, or classic title or character, and the collecting community must continue to recognize the pedigree name of a collection past the point of initial sale.

It is not uncommon for issues from widely recognized pedigrees to sell for multiples of their otherwise accepted prices in The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

“It was an oddly cold day in August 1989. The mist settled in among the Manhattan skyscrapers creating a spooky EC setting as Russ Cochran and I walked over to Bill Gaines’ apartment from our hotel. It still seems like only yesterday when Russ called me with the news that Bill Gaines has decided to sell his EC collection. Russ would be handling the sale, and I was needed to verify the collection and to arrange the copies of each issue by grade. We both knew that he had put away twelve copies of every EC 35-40 years earlier and sealed them away in boxes. Now the time had come to open those packages,” price guide author Robert M. Overstreet said.

As it turned out, Gaines had not uniformly put away 12 of each issue, but that was indeed the case for most of them. They were high grade copies, incredibly well preserved, and of course came straight from the personal collection of EC publisher William M. Gaines himself.

Cochran, who for years had published EC reprints in a variety of formats, had never seen copies in such superior condition. Neither had Overstreet, a veteran EC collector since 1952. They were going to make a splash.

“It was an unbelievable experience,” Overstreet said.

In 1989, when EC publisher William M. Gaines, EC historian and reprint publisher Russ Cochran, and The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide’s Robert M. Overstreet unwrapped and catalogued what are now known as the Gaines File copies of EC Comics, they all agreed it was an experience that any EC fan would have loved.

The day had finally come to open Bill Gaines’ collection.

“In the closet were six large cardboard boxes which contained the ECs. The comics were wrapped in brown paper by issue number and sealed in the boxes. Before the comic books were handled, Russ and I put on white cotton film editor’s gloves,” Overstreet said.

The first box was opened and the first package of comics was set on the table. We began with Vault of Horror #40 and worked backwards to War Against Crime #10. Russ cut open each package, counted the issues and handed them to me for arrangement by grade,” he said.

“It soon became apparent, after going through just a few packages, that we were seeing something out of the ordinary. The books were dazzling. They were essentially in brand new condition with full cover gloss and extra white pages. The cover colors were brilliant, with only a few exceptions. All of the noticeable defects either occurred during printing or trimming or the way they were wrapped. Some corners were bumped, and some issues were wrinkled,” he said.

Overstreet said they were disappointed to find no annuals or Pre-Trend comics (except for War Against Crime #10 and #11 and Crime Patrol #15 and #16). They were, however, surprised to find different versions of comics published by Bill Gaines’ father, comics pioneer M.C. Gaines, including Picture Stories from the Bible, Science, American History and World History. Some were branded with the All-American logo (the imprint which Gaines eventually sold to DC), while others had the familiar EC seal.

“After opening a few of the packages and seeing the pristine condition of the books, we just had to check out their smell. The white pages and inks were still so fresh, that opening the books and smelling the insides swept us back to 1950. It was a smell we all remembered. Those of us who can recognize an Edgar Church Collection (Mile High) comic by its smell would have trouble distinguishing between it and the Gaines smell. It soon became obvious that we were looking at probably the best surviving sets of EC comics,” Overstreet said.

Over the years since Gaines, Cochran, and Overstreet broke out the comics from the Gaines’ vault, the Gaines File collection has become one of the most sought-after pedigreed collections in the marketplace. Auction sales featuring them are almost always noteworthy, and Oni’s successful relaunch of the EC can reasonably be expected to bring fresh eyes to the Gaines File copies as well.