It isn't often that a popular TV series is inspired by a literary property that all but destroyed a particular industry, but such was the case with the weekly, half-hour horror anthology Tales From the Crypt. Most of the episodes depicted herein were based on stories originally published in the EC comic book series Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Shock Superstories in the 1950s. In these grim little morality plays, a number of nasty characters deservedly met grisly fates appropriate to their misdeeds. Examples included the compulsive neat freak who is cut up into little pieces and then tidily repackaged into carefully labeled mason jars, or the homicidal baseball player whose bloody body parts are used as bats, balls, and bases in a grim nocturnal ball game played by the vengeful teammates of his last victim. It was this sort of merry mayhem that brought down the wrath of professional do-gooders (such as the infamous Dr. Frederick Wertham) and their political co-conspirators, who demanded that the comic book industry immediately purge itself of all horror magazines -- and never mind these were among the best written and illustrated comics in the business.