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Gaines was the son of Max Gaines, publisher of the All-American Comics division of DC Comics and also an influential figure in the history of comics, having tested the idea of selling comics on newsstands, inspiring the creation of Wonder Woman among other achievements.
William Gaines became publisher of a small comics publisher called Educational Comics, or EC for short. The company published Bible comics and other educational fare. Gaines changed the name to Entertaining Comics and began searching for a niche among the dozens of comic book publishers who flourished at that time.
He found his niche in publishing horror, science fiction and fantasy comics, as well as realistic war comics, and the legendary MAD and Panic satire comics. His books, including Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt can refer to: the television series Tales from the Crypt the film Tales from the Crypt the comic book Tales from the Crypt ' published by EC Comics during the 1950s., Vault of Horror , Shock SuspenStories , Weird ScienceWeird Science ( 1985) is a movie written and directed by John Hughes. The title song was written and performed by Oingo Boingo. The film is about two teenage boys, Gary (played by Anthony Michael Hall) and his friend Wyatt (played by Ilan Mitchell-Smith). and Two Fisted Tales featured stories with content above the level of the typical comic.
His horror comics were not simply compilations of horrifying visuals, but subtle, satiric approaches to horror with genuine dilemmas and startling outcomes, along with horrifying visual graphics, to be sure, often with stories drawn from classic authors, such as Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe ( January 19, 1809 October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor and critic. He is best known for his tales of the macabre and his poems. Biography Life Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of actress Eliza Po and H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy and horror fiction, noted for giving horror stories a science fiction framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become qu. Likewise, his science fiction and fantasy titles dealt with adult issues like racism and the meaning of progress and had stories by, among others, Ray BradburyRay Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is a science fiction and fantasy writer. He was born in Waukegan, Illinois, and his family moved several times, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 1934. In his family were many publishers of books and not surprisingl. The books also featured artists who came to be among the most prominent commercial illustrators of the 20th century19th century 20th century 21st century more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901- 2000 in the sense of the Gre, among them Wallace Wood, Jack DavisThere are several notable people called Jack Davis . For the Canadian politician, see Jack Davis (politician) :For the cartoonist and illustrator, see Jack Davis (cartoonist) :For the American hurdler, see Jack Davis (athlete)., and Bill Elder .
MAD was also first a comic book satirizing other comic books. It was so popular that dozens of imitations were published, including EC's own Panic.
Gaines's comics may have appealed to adults, but comic books were considered by the general public to be aimed at children. With the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, comic books in the Gaines style drew the attention of the U.S. Congress and the moralizing classes in general and EC was effectively driven out of business by the Comics Magazine Association of America, an industry group that he had suggested, but lost control of to John Goldwater publisher of the innocuous Archie teenage comics. See Comics Code.
Gaines converted MAD to a magazine to escape the strictures of the comics code (not to mention that he had run out of comic books to satirize) and went on to a long career as a publisher of satire and enemy of bombast.