Talk:EC Comics

DC Comics
EC Comics is currently owned by Time Warner or whatever in the Hell they're called now, as if you look inside any MAD Magazine, there's the WB logo inside. Furthermore, if you explore the web to some degree, EC Comics' website goes to DC Comics' website, with a choice to select EC Comics as an imprint.

What extent does Warner own of EC's comic titles and content? Very little, as these seem to be reprinted by anybody that can get their hands on a printing press.

Coffee4binky (talk) 19:48, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Bill Gaines sold Mad Magazine back in the 1960s due to significant tax benefits, at least thats what I've read in EC books like Tales of Terror. I can't recall if it was directly to DC, or if the entity that bought it then sold it to DC later on. As far as I can tell the remainder of EC comics still is owned by the Gaines family. Regarding reprinting rights, those belonged to Russ Cochran, who in the 1990s I believe sold his entire outfit to Gemstone Publishing, so the remainder of the EC reprints (which included everything but Mad since it belonged to DC) were handled by them. Quiddity99 (talk) 01:13, 22 February 2009 (UTC)Quiddity99

Perhaps add something about EC comics being reprinted in the '90s? (I have several collections.) Michael Green - mfg@mfgreen.net

Ask and you shall receive! :) I've included an analysis of not only the 90's reprints, but some of the ones from the 60's and 70's as well. -Quiddity99
 * should also include the new EC Archives from Gemstone. --Emb021 20:12, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

This text below, from the previous edit of Entertaining Comics needs to be re-integrated with the text of the EC page. I've just copied and pasted it here, no time to read it or edit it now.. Perhaps this should have been done before Entertaining comics was made into a redirect page?

Entertaining Comics, was headed by William Gaines and known by its publishing name of EC Comics,. The firm was a publisher of comic books specializing in crime, horror, war, and science-fiction comics from the 1940s through the 1950s. It also published MAD and other satire comics which evolved into MAD Magazine. + #REDIRECT EC Comics -  +  - After the comic book industry imploded during the 1950s in the wake of the hysteria caused by Dr. Frederick Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent (and, just as important, a shakeup in the distribution companies who sold comic books and pulp magazines in America), most of EC Comics' titles were cancelled. The company focused on publishing the comedy and satire magazines. + -   +  - ==External Link==  + - * Horror Comics of the 1950s

ah- I see you are working on it- I'll leave it to you- I'm going to bed... quercus robur

To the best of my knowledge, Max Gaines created Wonder Woman, but EC did not publish that comic. Furthermore, Max Gaines deserves his own topic if he does not have one already. (It's bedtime on the West Coast. I go to sleep.)  Two halves


 * Both of those are reasons I put in the x-ref to WW. Max appears in several articles, this one, William Gaines, and WW, not to mention William Moulton Marston, and he should have his own article, but I too have to sleep sometimes.  A lot of what should be in this article is still in the William Gaines article and there is a lot missing from the William Gaines article, including his congressional appearance.  You're welcome to write on any of these topics.  E.C. Fan-Addict #22336, Ortolan88


 * Just wrote up something on Max Gaines, but you can do Sheldon Mayer and who's going to write up Frederick Wertham? Ortolan88

The opening paragraph to the EC Comics entry is phrased terribly. I suggest it is changed to: "Entertaining Comics, better known by its abbreviated name EC Comics, was a publisher of comic books specializing in crime, horror, humor, war and science-fiction from the 1940s through the 1950s. EC was headed by William Gaines." (I can't edit that part so somebody should). Atsab

Backlash Section
Shunpiker, thanks for adding some more information, but you did make some mistakes that I had to correct. For one thing, Gaines was not behind the creation of the ACMP, he was behind the creation of the Comics Code which was eventually his undoing. As stated in the article, Gaines originally formed it to fight censorship, but his fellow publishers did the exact opposite and used it to censor comics for decades afterwards. Also, I added some clarification regarding the ACMP, in that it never really had all that much an effect on reducing the violence in comics, in fact it got much, much worse as the years went by until the creation of the comics code. And finally, I added clarification regarding when EC left the ACMP, it was around the end of 1951. The ACMP logo still appears on the EC comics until the early 1952 covers (the publish date would be 3-4 months before the cover date), which is where I got the date from. Quiddity99 03:45, 16 October 2006 (UTC)Quiddity99

Judgement Day
Tenebrae, per your request, here's a couple of sources regarding the situation surrounding Judgement Day, one of the most well known stories out there regarding EC.

First, from Diehl's Tales From the Crypt the Official Archives, an excerpt from page 95 (the entire page is dedicated to this issue).

-- This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. "Judge Murphy was off his nut. He was really out to get us," recalls Feldstein. "I went in there with this story and Murphy says 'It can't be a black man.' But... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. "Listen," he told Murphy, "you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business." Al reported the results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious. Bill immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. "This is ridiculous!" he bellowed. "I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you". Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat." At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. "Fuck you!" they shouted into the telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form. --

A second reference is an interview with Al Feldstein from Geissman and Bernewitz's Tales of Terror:

-- Feldstein: (in reference to Murphy's response) "So he said it can't be a black. So I said "For Gods sakes, Judge Murphy, thats the whole point of the Goddamn story!" So he said, "No, it can't be a black".

(later) Bill just called him up and raised the roof, and finally they said, "Well, you gotta take the perspiration off." I had the stars glistening in the perspiration on his black skin. Bill said "Fuck You" and he hung up. --

I'm restoring the material. Also, I've revised the ACMP discussion at the start of the Backslash section based on material from these sources. If you want me to post the direct quotes from there, let me know. Quiddity99 19:27, 1 January 2007 (UTC)Quiddity99

Fair use rationale for Image:EC Judgementday.jpg
Image:EC Judgementday.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:57, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Eclogo.jpeg
Image:Eclogo.jpeg is being used on this article. I noticed that the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 07:44, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Comics B-Class Assesment required
This article needs the B-Class checklist filled in to remain a B-Class article for the Comics WikiProject. If the checklist is not filled in by 7th August this article will be re-assessed as C-Class. The checklist should be filled out referencing the guidance given at Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment/B-Class criteria. For further details please contact the Comics WikiProject. Comics-awb (talk) 16:24, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Done. Could use more references throughout but especially in the first half of "Entertaining Comics" and there are other areas where a lot of statements are made without any support from references. It is also missing an infobox but I'll add that now. (Emperor (talk) 17:34, 17 February 2009 (UTC))

Who Owns EC?
The claim in the article that "As of 2011, EC Publications continues as a legal entity holding copyrights to Mad magazine,[citation needed] and is under the management of the DC Comics unit of Time Warner."

Needs to be clarified or deleted. This is because while Time Warner owns MAD, the EC comics are owned by the Gaines estate — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.108.156.122 (talk) 07:15, 9 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Diehl in this article says that when EC's national distributor went bankrupt, Gaines dropped all of his titles except Mad. Some obscure German source claims Gaines sold EC in 1960. These claims contradict each other, and longtime EC historian Diehl is by far the more reliable source. --Tenebrae (talk) 22:47, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for bringing it up. I only added the information back because I thought that the editor overzealously removed it along with the unsourced part of the sentence. I wasn't aware of the discussion until now and based off it I totally agree with the removal of the information. Other editors need to realize that editor summaries go a long way, even if they're as short as "per talk page". Opencooper (talk) 00:32, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Italicized quotations
The quotes should be kept italic in order to differentiate them from the rest of the article. I know a reader will understand that it's a quote, but when it's italic, you know immediately and it's easier to read. AychAych (talk) 20:07, 19 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi, did you see the Manual of Style links in my edit summary? They advise against italicizing quotations because italics are meant for emphasis (if everything is emphasized, nothing is), and they are redundant to proper formatting such as enclosing quotation marks or block quotation. You argue that it makes it easier to read, but I argue it's harder. As for needing to tell them apart, the quotation formatting already puts spacing around the quotes. You might be mistaking these kinds of quotes with pull quotes, which are meant to be differentiated, but these quotes are part of the article text and should naturally flow with it. Opencooper (talk) 20:15, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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Edit request: add publisher to section Reprint History
Requesting the addition of a current publisher of EC Comics reprints to the section "Reprint history." The publisher to be added is Dark Horse Comics.

Full disclosure: I am an employee of Dark Horse Comics, and have been asked to see that this edit be made to show Dark Horse is a current publisher of this series. I only recently became aware of the COI rules from the Wikimedia Foundation, so apologies for not following this protocol when first looking at updating this article.

Here is a suggested version of the information to be added, based on the other listings for publishers in this section. Please feel free to modify as needed.

Dark Horse Comics
In 2013, Dark Horse Comics revived the EC Archives, beginning with Tales From the Crypt: Volume 4, with a foreword by Russ Cochran (Publisher). The EC Archives are digitally recolored based on the original coloring by EC colorist Marie Severin. As of November 2017, Dark Horse continues to produce hardcover and digital versions of the EC Archives.

Additional reference, if needed (similar to the Fantagraphics reference to their website, this is from the Dark Horse site--this is just for reference here and is entirely up to editors whether or not to include in article): https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1515/new-york-times-profiles-ec-archives

Caleil1212 (talk) 21:31, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

The proposed text is insufficiently paraphrased from the source material. I know we're dealing with a very small amount of text here, but material added to the article should demonstrate at least a residue of originality, and should not so-closely resemble, the phrasing from the source material. If that be the case, then you need to add "According to the New York Times,..." followed by the direct quotation in quotation marks.  Spintendo  ᔦᔭ   23:11, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Edit request update: add publisher to section Reprint History
Re: above - understood. I will offer an updated version below.

Requesting the addition of a current publisher of EC Comics reprints to the section "Reprint history." The publisher to be added is Dark Horse Comics.

Full disclosure: I am an employee of Dark Horse Comics, and have been asked to see that this article be updated to show Dark Horse is a current publisher of this series.

Here is an updated suggested version of the information to be added, based on the other listings for publishers in this section. Please feel free to modify as needed.

Dark Horse Comics
In 2013, Dark Horse Comics began reprinting the EC Archives in hardcover volumes. The first volume to be reprinted was Tales From the Crypt: Volume 4, with a foreword by Russ Cochran (Publisher). These reprints are digitally recolored based on the original coloring by EC colorist Marie Severin. As of November 2017, Dark Horse continues to produce hardcover and digital versions of the EC Archives.-- Caleil1212 (talk) 22:37, 3 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Done. --Tenebrae (talk) 22:51, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Usage of "Black" as a descriptor
Somewhere along the way, someone converted usages of "black" to refer to the human race to "Black". This is a viable option per our Manual of Style, but I'm wondering 1.) why this was done here, 2.) if there was any consensus or discussion to change it, and 3.) if it's appropriate to change original quotations of "black" to "Black" (particularly with the reference to "a Black", which is a little jarring to read). ―Justin ( koa v f ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 10:30, 22 February 2024 (UTC)