Max Gaines
Encyclopedia
Maxwell Charles Gaines was a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book
. Born Maxwell Ginsburg or Maxwell Ginzberg, he was also known as Max Gaines, M.C. Gaines and Charlie Gaines.
In 1933, Gaines devised the first four-color, saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet, 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 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 Max Gaines' death, 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.
Max, who bore a strong resemblance to actor Bert Lahr
, had been a teacher, an elementary school principal, a munitions factory worker and a haberdasher. In 1933 he had just begun a new job as a salesperson at Eastern Color Printing, when, one day, as the story goes, in the process of throwing out some old Sunday newspapers, Max caught himself re-reading the color comics. It dawned on him that if packaged together they would make an excellent promotional device. Max immediately contacted Harry L. Wildenberg, Eastern’s sales manager and his direct superior. The two had been racking their brains trying to think up a promotional gimmick for one of their clients, Proctor and Gamble, and a tabloid size book filled with full color Sunday comic reprints available for five cents and a label or coupon off any Proctor and Gamble product, seemed like the perfect idea.
“Good idea?” Max asked the Proctor and Gamble representative.
“Lousy idea.” They told him. “Nobody likes it around here.” (MW pg.43)
Undaunted, and with Harry’s blessing, Max decided to see if he could sell his idea to other companies, naming the promotional book Funnies on Parade. Maybe Proctor and Gamble didn’t like it, but other companies sure did. Over the next year Eastern was deluged with orders for hundreds of thousands of copies of the magazine, which was now given away by major retailers such as Wheatena, Canada Dry Soft Drinks, Phillips’ Dental Magnesia, Kenny Shoes, and John Wanamaker
Department Stores . (Man World of William Gaines pg. 43) (Ten Cent Plague pg. 21)
Together, Max and Harry “figured out how to produce a small, cheap promotional item by (a) printing eight pages on each sheet of standard newsprint [tabloid size] and (b) do so on the shop’s third shift, during the press downtime.” (TCP pg.21)
“The typical comic book [of the era] measured about 7 1/4 by 10 1/4, averaging sixty-four pages in length,” Jules Feiffer wrote in his book The Great Comic Book Heroes., “was glisteningly processed in four colors on the cover and flatly and indifferently colored on the inside, if colored at all. (For in the early days some stories were still in black and white; others in tones of sickly red on one page, sickly blue on another, so that it was quite possible for a character to have a white face and blue clothing for the first two pages of a story and pink face and red clothing for the rest.)” (Great Comic Book Heros, pg, 14)
This 64 page format was actually dictated by the printing presses themselves. The typical newspaper page, folded in half, produced a tabloid size, about ten by fifteen inches, folding it once more, you have the comic book page, just over seven by ten inches. (Fold it once more and you have digest size.) A 64 page comic book was printed using four rolls of newsprint (and later, one roll of slick stock for the cover) each roll laced through four separate printing units, one for black ink, red, yellow, and blue. On the larger presses, like the Goss City press, all the pages can be printed at the same time and automatically joined together and folded to size as they come off the press, then stapled together and trimmed. On smaller presses, the pages are run in segments, then inserted one section within the other before finishing.
With the book’s continuing success it suddenly occurred to Max “Why bring out comic books as premiums for other people when they could be sold directly to kids and I can collect the profits?”
The resemblance between Max’s Funnies on Parade
and Dell publisher George Delacorte’s 1929 The Funnies
, right down to the printed size and title, however, suggests that Max just happened upon an old issue of Funnies
and in February of 1934, went to George at Dell (instead of Harry at Eastern) to put together the book now called Famous Funnies
. Delacorte already had experience in the field, as well as having a huge backlog of material to pick from. Max’s true contribution was suggesting the book be half tabloid size. George agreed, and backed a printing of 35,000 copies of the 64 page comic book sized magazine
Gaines was the first to distribute through newsstands. His Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies
offered reprints of Sunday newspaper comics. Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics featured reprints of Reg'lar Fellers
, Dixie Dugan, Joe Palooka
, The Nebbs, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Somebody's Stenog and Hairbreadth Harry.
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
, Doctor Fate
, 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. 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.
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 funny animal
books such as 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.
during the summer of 1947 when Gaines, his friend Sam Irwin and Irwin's son were struck by a speedboat. Gaines died in the accident, but saved Irwin's son by throwing him into the back of the boat at the last second. The operator of the speedboat was not prosecuted.
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
), horror (Tales from the Crypt
) and satire (Harvey Kurtzman
's 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
.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
. Born Maxwell Ginsburg or Maxwell Ginzberg, he was also known as Max Gaines, M.C. Gaines and Charlie Gaines.
In 1933, Gaines devised the first four-color, saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet, a precursor to the color-comics format that became the standard for the American comic book
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
industry. He was co-publisher of All-American Publications
All-American Publications
All-American Publications is one of three American comic book companies that combined to form the modern-day DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comics publishers...
, a seminal comic-book company that introduced such enduring fictional characters as Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
, Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
and Hawkman
Hawkman
Hawkman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1, published by All-American Publications in 1940....
. He went on to found Educational Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
, 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 Max Gaines' death, Educational Comics was taken over by his son Bill Gaines, who transformed the company (now known as EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
) into a pioneer of horror, science fiction and satirical comics.
Early life and career
Maxwell Charles Gaines was a “hard-nosed, pain-wracked, loud aggressive man”. (MW pg. 42) At age four, Max 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 worse from his son and was rarely disappointed.” Max 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!”Max, who bore a strong resemblance to actor Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage...
, had been a teacher, an elementary school principal, a munitions factory worker and a haberdasher. In 1933 he had just begun a new job as a salesperson at Eastern Color Printing, when, one day, as the story goes, in the process of throwing out some old Sunday newspapers, Max caught himself re-reading the color comics. It dawned on him that if packaged together they would make an excellent promotional device. Max immediately contacted Harry L. Wildenberg, Eastern’s sales manager and his direct superior. The two had been racking their brains trying to think up a promotional gimmick for one of their clients, Proctor and Gamble, and a tabloid size book filled with full color Sunday comic reprints available for five cents and a label or coupon off any Proctor and Gamble product, seemed like the perfect idea.
“Good idea?” Max asked the Proctor and Gamble representative.
“Lousy idea.” They told him. “Nobody likes it around here.” (MW pg.43)
Undaunted, and with Harry’s blessing, Max decided to see if he could sell his idea to other companies, naming the promotional book Funnies on Parade. Maybe Proctor and Gamble didn’t like it, but other companies sure did. Over the next year Eastern was deluged with orders for hundreds of thousands of copies of the magazine, which was now given away by major retailers such as Wheatena, Canada Dry Soft Drinks, Phillips’ Dental Magnesia, Kenny Shoes, and John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker was a United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a "pioneer in marketing." Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Biography:He was born on July 11, 1838.He opened his first store in...
Department Stores . (Man World of William Gaines pg. 43) (Ten Cent Plague pg. 21)
Together, Max and Harry “figured out how to produce a small, cheap promotional item by (a) printing eight pages on each sheet of standard newsprint [tabloid size] and (b) do so on the shop’s third shift, during the press downtime.” (TCP pg.21)
“The typical comic book [of the era] measured about 7 1/4 by 10 1/4, averaging sixty-four pages in length,” Jules Feiffer wrote in his book The Great Comic Book Heroes., “was glisteningly processed in four colors on the cover and flatly and indifferently colored on the inside, if colored at all. (For in the early days some stories were still in black and white; others in tones of sickly red on one page, sickly blue on another, so that it was quite possible for a character to have a white face and blue clothing for the first two pages of a story and pink face and red clothing for the rest.)” (Great Comic Book Heros, pg, 14)
This 64 page format was actually dictated by the printing presses themselves. The typical newspaper page, folded in half, produced a tabloid size, about ten by fifteen inches, folding it once more, you have the comic book page, just over seven by ten inches. (Fold it once more and you have digest size.) A 64 page comic book was printed using four rolls of newsprint (and later, one roll of slick stock for the cover) each roll laced through four separate printing units, one for black ink, red, yellow, and blue. On the larger presses, like the Goss City press, all the pages can be printed at the same time and automatically joined together and folded to size as they come off the press, then stapled together and trimmed. On smaller presses, the pages are run in segments, then inserted one section within the other before finishing.
With the book’s continuing success it suddenly occurred to Max “Why bring out comic books as premiums for other people when they could be sold directly to kids and I can collect the profits?”
The resemblance between Max’s Funnies on Parade
Funnies on Parade
Funnies on Parade is an American publication of 1933 that was a precursor of comic books.The creation of the modern American comic book came in stages. Dell Publishing in 1929 published a 16-page, newsprint periodical of original, comic strip-styled material titled The Funnies and described by the...
and Dell publisher George Delacorte’s 1929 The Funnies
The Funnies
The Funnies was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing, the first of these a seminal, 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.-The Funnies :In 1929, George T...
, right down to the printed size and title, however, suggests that Max just happened upon an old issue of Funnies
Funnies
Funnies can refer to:*Comic strips, known colloquially as "the funny pages", shortened to "the funnies"*The Funnies, a proto-comic book series first published by Dell Publishing in 1929...
and in February of 1934, went to George at Dell (instead of Harry at Eastern) to put together the book now called Famous Funnies
Famous Funnies
Famous Funnies is an American publication of the 1930s that represents what popular culture historians consider the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors.-Immediate precursors:...
. Delacorte already had experience in the field, as well as having a huge backlog of material to pick from. Max’s true contribution was suggesting the book be half tabloid size. George agreed, and backed a printing of 35,000 copies of the 64 page comic book sized magazine
Gaines was the first to distribute through newsstands. His Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies
Famous Funnies
Famous Funnies is an American publication of the 1930s that represents what popular culture historians consider the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors.-Immediate precursors:...
offered reprints of Sunday newspaper comics. Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics featured reprints of Reg'lar Fellers
Reg'lar Fellers
Reg'lar Fellers was a long-run newspaper comic strip adapted into a feature film, a radio series on NBC and an animated cartoon. Created by Gene Byrnes , the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang of suburban children...
, Dixie Dugan, Joe Palooka
Joe Palooka
Joe Palooka was an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher in 1921. The strip debuted in 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers....
, The Nebbs, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Somebody's Stenog and Hairbreadth Harry.
All-American Publications
In 1938, Gaines and Jack LiebowitzJack Liebowitz
Jacob "Jack" S. Liebowitz , was an American accountant and publisher, known primarily as the co-owner with Harry Donenfeld of National Allied Publications .-Early life:...
began publishing comics with original material under the name All-American Publications
All-American Publications
All-American Publications is one of three American comic book companies that combined to form the modern-day DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comics publishers...
. At the time, Liebowitz was the co-owner with Harry Donenfeld
Harry Donenfeld
Harry Donenfeld was an American publisher who is known primarily for being the owner of National Allied Publications, which distributed Detective Comics and Action Comics, the originator publications for the superhero characters Batman and Superman...
of National Allied Publications, the precursor company to DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, and Donenfeld financed Gaines' creation of All-American. All-American published several superhero/adventure anthologies such as All-American Comics
All-American Comics
All-American Comics was the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from April 1939 to October 1948, at which time it was renamed All-American Western. In 1952, the title was changed again to All-American Men of...
and Flash Comics
Flash Comics
Flash Comics was an anthology comic book published by All-American Publications and later National Periodicals . The title ran for 104 issues between January 1940 to February 1949. Although the name of the comic book was Flash Comics, the Flash was only one of many different series featured in the...
, 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
Starman (comics)
Starman is a name used by several different fictional DC Comics superheroes, most prominently Ted Knight and his sons David and Jack.Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Jack Burnley, the original Starman, Ted Knight, first appeared in Adventure Comics #61...
, Doctor Fate
Doctor Fate
Doctor Fate is the name of a succession of fictional sorcerers who appear in books published by DC Comics. The original version was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, and first appeared in More Fun Comics #55...
, The Spectre
Spectre (comics)
The Spectre is a fictional character and superhero who has appeared in numerous comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in a next issue ad in More Fun Comics #51 and received his first story the following month, #52...
) appeared alongside All-American's Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
, Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
and Hawkman
Hawkman
Hawkman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1, published by All-American Publications in 1940....
in that company's successful All Star Comics
All Star Comics
All Star Comics is a 1940s comic book series from All-American Publications, one of the early companies that merged with National Periodical Publications to form the modern-day DC Comics. With the exception of the first two issues, All Star Comics primarily told stories about the adventures of the...
.
Gaines' relationship with Donenfeld and National waxed and waned over the years. 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.
EC Comics
Gaines used the proceeds from the sale of All-American to establish another comics line, Educational Comics. EC ComicsEC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
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 funny animal
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
books such as Land of the Lost
Land of the Lost (radio)
Land of the Lost was a 1940s radio fantasy adventure, written and narrated by Isabel Manning Hewson, about the adventures of two children who traveled underwater with the fatherly fish Red Lantern...
, Animal Fables and Ed Wheelan
Ed Wheelan
Edgar S. Wheelan was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip Minute Movies, satirizing silent films, and his comic book Fat and Slat, published by EC Comics...
'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.
Death and legacy
Tragedy struck at Lake Placid, New YorkLake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
during the summer of 1947 when Gaines, his friend Sam Irwin and Irwin's son were struck by a speedboat. Gaines died in the accident, but saved Irwin's son by throwing him into the back of the boat at the last second. The operator of the speedboat was not prosecuted.
Max Gaines' 25-year-old son, William Gaines
William Gaines
William Maxwell Gaines , better known as Bill Gaines, was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically important line of mature-audience comics...
, 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
Weird Science (comic)
Weird Science was a science fiction anthology comic book that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. Over a four-year span, the comic ran for 22 issues, ending with the November–December, 1953 issue...
), horror (Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (comic)
Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s...
) and satire (Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...
's Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
).
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
Fifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty Who Made DC Great is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures...
.