Editing EC Comics (section)

===1955–1956: "New Direction" and "Picto-Fiction"===
EC shifted its focus to a line of more realistic comic book titles, including ''M.D.'' and ''[[Psychoanalysis (comics)|Psychoanalysis]]'' (known as the [[New Direction (comics)|New Direction]] line). It also renamed its remaining science-fiction comic. Since the initial issues did not carry the Comics Code seal, the wholesalers refused to carry them. After consulting with his staff, Gaines reluctantly started submitting his comics to the Comics Code; all the New Direction titles carried the seal starting with the second issue. This attempted revamp failed commercially and after the fifth issue, all the New Direction titles were canceled.{{sfn|Diehl|1996|p=94}} ''Incredible Science Fiction'' #33 was the last EC comic book published.{{sfn|Diehl|1996|p=95}}

Gaines switched focus to EC's Picto-Fiction titles, a line of typeset black-and-white magazines with heavily illustrated stories. Fiction was formatted to alternate illustrations with blocks of typeset text, and some of the contents were rewrites of stories previously published in EC's comic books. This experimental line lost money from the start and only lasted two issues per title. When EC's national distributor went bankrupt, Gaines dropped all of his titles except ''Mad''.{{sfn|Diehl|1996|pp=148–49}}