EC COMICS

   Company founded in 1945 by M.C. Gaines (1896-1947), creator of the format of the modern COMIC book and original partner in DC COMICS. The initials stood for both Educational and Entertaining Comics. After Gaines's death the company passed to his son, William M. Gaines (1922-1992), who revamped the line to his own taste. Educational Comics was wound down and Entertaining Comics was transformed into a line of anthology titles that included two sf comic books - Weird Science and Weird Fantasy - which were the poorest sellers, but which survived because of his personal support. Various artists drew the sf stories, which ranged from the cliched and absurd to the surprisingly good; most were written by editor Albert B. Feldstein, though some were by Otto Binder (Eando BINDER). Feldstein also "borrowed" stories from authors such as Anthony BOUCHER, Ray BRADBURY, Fredric BROWN, John COLLIER and Richard MATHESON. In 1952 Bradbury noted the unauthorized adaptations but, enjoying them, simply wrote and requested payment, which Gaines forwarded. This led to official adaptations of Bradbury stories.In 1954 increasing concern about juvenile delinquency and the "harmful influence" of comic books led to the two sf titles combining as Weird Science-Fantasy. Such minor measures failed to stem the flow of criticism, and EC abandoned its entire comic-book line in 1955 to concentrate on MAD Magazine.EC influenced various creators, including the underground comics artists of the 1960s and several writers, notably Stephen KING, but the main influence was from EC's horror titles, not their sf titles. A number of collections of EC material have appeared, including two collections of Bradbury adaptations by Albert B. Feldstein: The Autumn People (coll 1965), horror, and Tomorrow Midnight (coll 1966), sf.Russ Cochran's The Complete EC Library reprints the entire run in large hardcovers, and Gladstone Comics are reissuing most of the titles as monthly reprints.

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