Editing Max Gaines

{{Short description|Pioneer of the modern comic book}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         = Marstonpetermayergaines.jpg
| imagesize     =
| caption       = (L to R) [[William Moulton Marston]], [[H. G. Peter]], [[Sheldon Mayer]], and Gaines in 1942
| birth_name    = Max Ginzberg
| birth_date    = September 21, 1894<ref>''U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007'';  Social Security Administration</ref>
| birth_place   = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1947|8|20|1894|9|23}}
| death_place   = [[Lake Placid, New York]], U.S.
| nationality   =
| area          = Publisher
| alias         =
| notable works =
| awards        =
}}
'''Maxwell Charles Gaines'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|g|eɪ|n|z}}}} (born '''Max Ginzberg''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|g|ɪ|n|z|b|ɜr|g}}}} September 21, 1894 – August 20, 1947<ref name=reformjudaism>{{cite news| url= https://reformjudaism.org/reform-jewish-life/arts-culture-travel/how-jews-created-comic-book-industry-part-i-golden-age-1933-1955 | work=[[Reform Judaism (magazine)|Reform Judaism]]| title=How the Jews Created the Comic Book Industry - Part I: The Golden Age (1933-1955)| author-link=Arie Kaplan| first=Arie| last=Kaplan| date=Fall 2003| volume=32| issue=1| archive-date=March 13, 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313124359/http://reformjudaismmag.net/03fall/comics.shtml| url-status=dead| access-date=June 11, 2006}}</ref>) was an American publisher and a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern [[comic book]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Gerard |last=Jones |author-link=Gerard Jones|title=Men of Tomorrow |year=2006 |page=151 |publisher=Arrow Books |isbn=978-0-09-948706-7}}</ref><ref name="times">{{cite news| title=Two Men Are Killed in Crash of Motorboats on Lake Placid| work=[[The New York Times]]| date= August 21, 1947|access-date=March 24, 2016| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C02E3D81631E13BBC4951DFBE66838C659EDE|quote= Max Charles Gaines, 56 years old...}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

In 1933, Gaines devised the first four-color, saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet (''[[Funnies on Parade]]''), a precursor to the color-comics format that became the standard for the [[American comic book]] industry. He was co-publisher of [[All-American Publications]], a seminal comic-book company that introduced such enduring fictional characters as [[Green Lantern]], [[Wonder Woman]], and [[Hawkman]]. He went on to found [[EC Comics|Educational Comics]], producing the series ''Picture Stories from the Bible''. He authored one of the earliest essays on comic books, a 1942 pamphlet titled ''Narrative Illustration, The Story of the Comics.''

After Gaines' death in 1947, Educational Comics was taken over by his son [[Bill Gaines]], who transformed the company (now known as [[EC Comics]]) into a pioneer of horror, science fiction, and satirical comics.

==Early life==
Max Ginzberg was born in New York City to a [[Jewish]] family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://13thdimension.com/the-13-most-influential-jewish-creators-and-execs-part-3/|title = The 13 Most Influential Jewish Creators and Execs, PART 3|date = September 21, 2015}}</ref> Maxwell Charles Gaines was described as a "hard-nosed, pain-wracked, loud aggressive man".<ref name=MadWorld54>{{cite book|last=Jacobs |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Jacobs |year=1972 |title=The Mad World of William Gaines |publisher=Bantam Books |page=54}}</ref> At age four, Gaines had leaned out too far from a second story window and fell to the ground, catching his leg on a picket fence. The leg would give him pain and discomfort for the rest of his life, aggravating his disposition. As an adult he developed a vicious temper, and according to his son, [[William M. Gaines]], "expected the worst from his son and was rarely disappointed." Gaines continually reinforced this belief by venting his frustrations on the boy, beating him savagely with a leather belt while shouting, "You'll never amount to anything!".<ref name=MadWorld54/>

==Career==
Gaines had been a teacher, an elementary school principal, a munitions factory worker, and a haberdasher. In 1933 he had begun a new job as a salesperson at [[Eastern Color Printing]], which printed Sunday newspaper comic strips. Deducing that packaging such strips together could create promotional publications, Gaines contacted [[Harry L. Wildenberg]], Eastern's sales manager and his direct superior. The two needed promotional ideas for a client, [[Procter & Gamble]], and suggested to the company a tabloid-sized book of color comic-strip reprints available for five cents and a label or coupon from any Procter & Gamble product. The company, however, rejected the idea.<ref name=MadWorld54/> Undaunted, and with Wildenberg's blessing, Gaines produced ''[[Funnies on Parade]]'',<ref name="brown">Brown, Mitchell. [https://web.archive.org/web/20030224164555/http://www.geocities.com/mbrown123/greatest_comics/funniesonparade.html "The 100 Greatest Comic Books of the 20th Century: ''Funnies on Parade''"] (Internet archive link)</ref>  an eight-page newsprint magazine reprinting several comic strips licensed from the [[McNaught Syndicate]]  and the [[McClure Syndicate]]. These included such popular strips as  cartoonist [[Al Smith (cartoonist)|Al Smith]]'s ''[[Mutt and Jeff]]'', [[Ham Fisher]]'s ''[[Joe Palooka]]'', and [[Percy Crosby]]'s ''[[Skippy (comic strip)|Skippy]]''. This periodical, however, was neither sold nor available on [[newsstands]], but rather sent free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. Ten-thousand copies were made.<ref name="brown" /> The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for [[Canada Dry]] [[soft drinks]], [[Kinney Shoes]], [[Wheatena]] [[cereal]], [[Phillips' Dental Magnesia]], [[John Wanamaker]] Department Stores, and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000.<ref name="ron">Goulart, Ron. ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'' ([[HarperCollins|Harper Entertainment]], New York, 2004)</ref><ref name=MadWorld54/><ref name=TenCentPg21>{{cite book|author-link=David Hajdu |last=Hajdu |first=David |title=The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America |publisher=Picador |year=2009 |page=21}}</ref>

Later in 1933, Gaines collaborated with [[Dell Publishing]] to publish the 36-page one-shot ''[[Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics]]'',<ref>[http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=75 ''Famous Famous - Carnival of Comics''] at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref> followed in 1934 by ''[[Famous Funnies]]'', which ran for 218 issues and is considered the first true American comic book.<ref>[[Ron Goulart|Goulart, Ron]]. "The Funnies: I" (entry), ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'' ([[HarperCollins|Harper Entertainment]], New York, 2004) {{ISBN|0-06-053816-3}}, p. 144</ref> After he quit Eastern Color, he joined McClure Newspaper Syndicate as company manager, and eventually partnered with [[Dell Comics]] to produce three of the comic books ''[[The Funnies]]'', ''Popular Comics'' and ''The Comics'' whereas Dell financed Gaines of its three comic book titles, until Dell became associated with [[Western Publishing]] in 1938.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-05 |title=The Gaines-Hecht Letters – The Comics Detective |url=http://www.comicsdetective.com/2019/09/the-gaines-hecht-letters/ |access-date=2024-07-12 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Comic Books and Their Adventures |url=http://www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/comic-books.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Canote |first=Terence Towles |date=2004-09-25 |title=A Shroud of Thoughts: The Great M. C. Gaines |url=http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2004/09/great-m-c-gaines_25.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=A Shroud of Thoughts}}</ref>

===All-American Publications===
In 1938, Gaines and [[Jack Liebowitz]] began publishing comics with original material under the name "[[All-American Publications]]". At the time, Liebowitz was the co-owner with [[Harry Donenfeld]] of [[National Allied Publications]], the precursor company to [[DC Comics]], and Donenfeld financed Gaines' creation of All-American. All-American published several superhero/adventure anthologies such as ''[[All-American Comics]]'' and ''[[Flash Comics]]'', as well as other titles. For a time, All-American and National shared marketing and promotional efforts as well as characters. Several of National's characters ([[Starman (comics)|Starman]], [[Doctor Fate]], [[Spectre (comics)|The Spectre]]) appeared alongside All-American's [[Green Lantern]], [[Wonder Woman]], and [[Hawkman]] in that company's successful ''[[All Star Comics]]''.

Gaines' relationship with Donenfeld and National waxed and waned over the years.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} By the early 1940s, the All-American titles were branded separately and no longer featured National-owned characters. In 1944, Donenfeld bought out Gaines and merged National and All-American into a single company.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

===EC Comics===
Gaines used the proceeds from the sale of All-American to establish another comics line, Educational Comics. [[EC Comics]] continued All-American's ''Picture Stories from the Bible'' and added new titles such as ''Picture Stories from American History''. Gaines soon expanded the line with humor and [[talking animals in fiction|talking animal]] books such as ''[[Land of the Lost (radio)|Land of the Lost]]'', ''Animal Fables'', and [[Ed Wheelan]]'s ''Fat and Slat''. Some of these books carried a slightly revised publisher logo which changed the "Educational" in EC to display the Entertaining Comics insignia.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

==Death and legacy==
On August 20, 1947, at [[Lake Placid, New York]], Gaines, his friend Sam Irwin, and the latter's 8-year-old son William Irwin were aboard a motorboat when it was struck by another boat. Gaines and the elder Irwin died in the accident.<ref name="times"/>

Max Gaines' 25-year-old son, [[William Gaines]], inherited EC and changed the direction of the company.

Although it continued to advertise and sell back issues of the Educational titles, Bill Gaines concentrated on adding new titles to the Entertaining Comics line. He replaced the juvenile humor books with titles pitched to an older audience and strongly influenced by his own love of popular culture. These spanned several genres as he made a transition from romance (''Modern Love'') and Westerns (''Gunslingers'') to science fiction (''[[Weird Science (comic)|Weird Science]]''), horror (''[[Tales from the Crypt (comic)|Tales from the Crypt]]''), and satire ([[Harvey Kurtzman]]'s ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'').

In 1985, Max Gaines was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication ''[[Fifty Who Made DC Great]]''.<ref>{{Cite comic|writer = Marx, Barry|cowriters = [[Joey Cavalieri|Cavalieri, Joey]] and Hill, Thomas|artist = Petruccio, Steven |editor = Marx, Barry|story = M.C. Gaines An Idea Becomes an Industry| title = Fifty Who Made DC Great| date = 1985|publisher = DC Comics| page = 4}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[American comic book]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite web|last=Coville|first= James|url=http://www.thecomicbooks.com/nsp1-01.html| publisher= TheComicBooks.com| title=The History of Comic Books: Newsstand Period Part 1. 1922–1955|page=[http://www.thecomicbooks.com/nsp1-02.html 2]| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722010135/http://www.thecomicbooks.com/nsp1-02.html|archive-date=July 22, 2011|url-status=live}}
*Gaines, M. C. "[[iarchive:Gaines.M.C.1942NarrativeIllustrationTheStoryOfComics|Narrative Illustration: The Story of the Comics]]." ''Print, 3'' (2). Summer 1942. pp.&nbsp;25–38.

==External links==
*{{cite journal|url=http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/04moldoff.html |title=A Moon... A Bat... A Hawk: A Candid Conversation With Sheldon Moldoff |journal=Alter Ego |volume=3 |issue=4 |date=Spring 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201085200/http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/04moldoff.html |archive-date=December 1, 2010 |url-status=live }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaines, Max}}
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century American publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Comic book publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from New York City]]
[[Category:EC Comics]]
[[Category:DC Comics people]]
[[Category:Boating accident deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish American comics creators]]
[[Category:Jews from New York (state)]]