On October 26, the L.A.-based performance group Captured Aural Phantasy Theater <\/a>will bring the shocking worlds to life in their live-read stage show based on the comic book series. The troupe will revisit several stories in a live show at Dynasty Typewriter on October 26<\/a>, featuring projections, live music, magic and haunting songs just in time for Halloween.<\/p>\n The original Tales From the Crypt comics (not to be confused with the TV series featuring famous guest stars like Tom Hanks and Arnold Schwarzenegger) were published by William Gaines, who inherited his dad\u2019s comic book company at age 25. Gaines hired renowned artists like Will Elder, Jack Davis and Frank Frazetta to illustrate tales of the supernatural, comeuppance and revenge, all with outrageous plot twists.<\/p>\n Many pearls were clutched after an article titled \u201cHorror In The Nursery\u201d was published in Collier\u2019s magazine, exposing parents to the monstrous things kids loved reading about. After enduring much grilling, Gaines gave up on the shock horror and turned his attention to shock humor by founding Mad magazine.<\/p>\n Gaines\u2019 exploits are at the heart of troupe founder Ben Dickow\u2019s other project, Comic Book Crackdown, a new musical recently staged during Banned Books Week at L.A.\u2019s Central Library. Seventy-plus years after politicians tried to outlaw these comics, book bans haven\u2019t gone away. PEN America <\/a>reports that A Clockwork Orange was the most banned book in schools this year, in a list that also includes Wicked, A Handmaid\u2019s Tale, and Forever\u2026 by Judy Blume.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lurid 1950s comic books were investigated by the U.S. Senate Long before the Crypt Keeper was on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":324421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[32708,1582,276,161853,17810,2961,224,5337,61263],"class_list":{"0":"post-324420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-arnold-schwarzenegger","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-dynasty-typewriter","12":"tag-halloween","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-tom-hanks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115419097258935228","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-5.07.13-PM-1200x847.png\")
The original Crypt Keeper figure from TV\u2019s Tales From the Crypt in a private collectionCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-5.07.54-PM-1200x871.png\")
Credit: Photo courtesy Captured Aural Phantasy Theater<\/p>\n