Long-time publisher of classic comic material Russ Cochran has passed away, according to a Facebook post by his brother.  He was 82.  Cochran was best-known for his reprints of material originally published by EC Comics in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  The material included science fiction, horror, war, and humor titles by master comic creators of the time, including Al Feldstein, Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, Jack Kamen, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Williamson, George Evans, Graham Ingels, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, Bernard Krigstein, Will Elder, and more.  EC canceled all of the titles except Mad shortly after new content restrictions were imposed in the wake of hearings on juvenile crime that associated comics with illegal behavior.

We consider Cochran’s crowning publishing achievement to be The Complete EC Library, a set of 66 oversized hardcovers (mostly in b/w) released in 17 slipcases between 1979 and 1996.  Cochran also published or packaged the EC material in a variety of other formats, including color hardcovers released most recently by Dark Horse Comics.

Cochran’s love for the material and the art form was palpable, and his preservation and presentation of the material from that incredible creative flowering is a lasting contribution to the history of comics.