William Gaines: Difference between revisions

William Gaines
William Gaines
Born	William Maxwell Gaines; March 1, 1922; New York City, US
Died	June 3, 1992 (aged 70); New York, US
Area(s)	Writer, Editor, Publisher
Notable works	Mad; EC Comics; "Master Race"
Awards	Inkpot Award (1990)

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William Maxwell "Bill" Gaines (/ɡeɪnz/; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992) 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. He published the satirical magazine Mad for over 40 years.

He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame (1993) and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame (1997). In 2012, he was inducted into the Ghastly Awards' Hall of Fame.

Early life

Gaines was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish household.^[2] His father was Max Gaines, who as publisher of the All-American Comics division of DC Comics was also an influential figure in the history of comics. The elder Gaines tested the idea of packaging and selling comics on newsstands in 1933, and Gaines accepted William Moulton Marston's proposal in 1941 for the first successful female superhero, Wonder Woman.^[3]

As World War II began, Gaines was rejected by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy, so he went to his local draft board and requested to be drafted.^[4] He trained as an U.S. Army Air Corps photographer at Lowry Field in Denver.^[4]^[5]^[6] However, when he was assigned to an Oklahoma City field without a photographic facility, he wound up on permanent KP duty.^[4] As he explained in 1976 to Bill Craig of Stars and Stripes, "Being an eater, this assignment was a real pleasure for me. There were four of us, and we always found all the choice bits the cooks had hidden away. We'd be frying up filet mignon and ham steaks every night. The hours were great, too. I think it was eight hours on and 40 off."^[4] Stationed at DeRidder Army Airfield in Louisiana, he was reassigned to Marshall Airfield in Kansas and then to Governors Island, New York. Leaving the service in 1946, he returned home to complete his chemistry studies at Brooklyn Polytechnic, but soon transferred to New York University, intent on obtaining a teaching certificate.^[4] In 1947, he was in his senior year at NYU when his father was killed in a motorboat accident on Lake Placid. Instead of becoming a chemistry teacher, he took over the family business, EC Comics.^[4]^[6]

Career

Senate Subcommittee investigation

With the publication of Dr. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, comic books like those that Gaines published attracted the attention of the U.S. Congress. In 1954, Gaines testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency.^[7]^[8] In the following exchanges, he is addressed first by Chief Counsel Herbert Beaser, and then by Senator Estes Kefauver:

Beaser: Is the sole test of what you would put into your magazine whether it sells? Is there any limit you can think of that you would not put in a magazine because you thought a child should not see or read about it?
Gaines: No, I wouldn't say that there is any limit for the reason you outlined. My only limits are the bounds of good taste, what I consider good taste.
Beaser: Then you think a child cannot in any way, in any way, shape, or manner, be hurt by anything that a child reads or sees?
Gaines: I don't believe so.
Beaser: There would be no limit actually to what you put in the magazines?
Gaines: Only within the bounds of good taste.
Beaser: Your own good taste and saleability?
Gaines: Yes.

Kefauver: Here is your May 22 issue [Crime SuspenStories No. 22, cover date May]. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman's head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that is in good taste?
Gaines: Yes sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that the neck could be seen dripping blood from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody.
Kefauver: You have blood coming out of her mouth.
Gaines: A little.
Kefauver: Here is blood on the axe. I think most adults are shocked by that.

End of EC Comics and conversion of Mad format

Gaines converted Mad to a magazine in 1955, partly to retain the services of its talented editor Harvey Kurtzman, who had received offers from elsewhere. The change enabled Mad to escape the strictures of the Comics Code Authority. Kurtzman left Gaines's employ a year later anyway and was replaced by Al Feldstein, who had been Gaines's most prolific editor during the EC Comics run. (For details of this event and the subsequent debates about it, see Harvey Kurtzman's editorship of Mad.) Feldstein oversaw Mad from 1955 through 1986, as Gaines went on to a long and profitable career as a publisher of satire and enemy of bombast.^[9]

To celebrate a circulation milestone of 1 million magazines, Gaines took his staff to Haiti. In Haiti the magazine had a single subscriber. Gaines personally delivered his subscription renewal card.^[10]

Despite his largesse, Gaines had a penny-pinching side. He would frequently stop meetings to find out who had called a particular long-distance phone number. Longtime Mad editor Nick Meglin called Gaines a "living contradiction" in 2011, saying, "He was singularly the cheapest man in the world, and the most generous." Meglin described his experience of asking Gaines for a raise of $3 a week; after rejecting the request, the publisher then treated Meglin to an expensive dinner at one of New York's best restaurants. Recalled Meglin: "The check came, and I said, 'That's the whole raise!' "And Bill said, 'I like good conversation and good food. I don't enjoy giving raises.'"^[11]

(According to veteran Golden Age comics artist Sheldon Moldoff, Gaines was not too fond of paying percentages, either.) In his memoir Good Days and Mad (1994), Mad writer Dick DeBartolo recalls several anecdotes that characterize Gaines as a generous gourmand who liked practical jokes, and who enjoyed good-natured verbal abuse from his staffers.^[12]^{[pages needed]}

1960–1992

In 1961, Gaines sold Mad to Premier Industries, a maker of venetian blinds,^[13] but remained publisher until the day he died, and served as a buffer between the magazine and its corporate interests. He largely stayed out of the magazine's production, often viewing content just before the issue was shipped to the printer. "My staff and contributors create the magazine," declared Gaines. "What I create is the atmosphere."^[14] Around 1964, Premier sold Mad to Independent News, a division of National Periodical Publications, the publisher of DC Comics. In 1967, Kinney National Company purchased National Periodical, and then in 1969, they bought Warner Brothers. In 1972, Kinney became Warner Communications.

One of Gaines' last televised interviews was as a guest on the December 7, 1991, episode of Beyond Vaudeville.

Circa 2008, director John Landis and screenwriter Joel Eisenberg planned a biopic called Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines, with Al Feldstein serving as a creative consultant.^[15]^[16] The film, however, did not get past pre-production.^{[citation needed]}

Death

On June 3, 1992, Gaines died in his sleep at his home in New York at the age of 70. He had been in ill health in recent years and used a pacemaker.^[17]^[18]

Personal life

Gaines's first marriage was arranged by his mother. He was married to his second cousin Hazel Grieb. They announced their plans to divorce in August 1947.^[19] According to Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine by Maria Reidelbach, Gaines married Nancy Siegel in 1955. They had three children, Cathy (1958), Wendy (1959), and Christopher (1961). They divorced in 1971. In 1987 he married Anne Griffiths. They remained married until his death in 1992.^[10]

Gaines was an atheist since the age of 12; he once told a reporter that his was probably the only home in America in which the children were brought up to believe in Santa Claus, but not in God.^[20]^{[page needed]}

Notes

^ Inkpot Award
^ Schumer, Arlen (September 21, 2015). "The 13 Most Influential Jewish Creators and Execs, PART 3". 13th Dimension.
^ Lepore, Jill (October 2014). "The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f In Remembrance of William Maxwell Gaines www.memorialmatters.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
^ Gaines, William Maxwell Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
^ ^a ^b William Maxwell Gaines, American publisher Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
^ Kihss, Peter. "No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says". New York Times, April 22, 1954, p. 1.
^ Nyberg, Amy (February 1, 1998). Seal of Approval: The Origins and History of Code, Volume 1. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 61–63. ISBN 0-87805-974-1. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
^ Winn, Marie (January 25, 1981). "Winn, Marie. "What Became of Childhood Innocence?", The New York Times, January 25, 1981". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Barron, James (June 4, 1992). "William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70". The New York Times.
^ "The Mad, mad world of Al Jaffee". CNN. December 14, 2011.
^ DeBartolo, Dick (1994). Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 978-1-56025-077-7. OCLC 30668068.
^ "News from ME - Mark Evanier's blog".
^ Dick De Bartolo. 1995. Good Days and Mad. Thundermouth Press.
^ Adler, Tim (May 16, 2010). "CANNES: John Landis Developing Biopic of 1950s EC Comics Crusader William Gaines". Deadline London.
^ "Worley, Rob M. Feldstein consulting on Gaines biopic", April 14, 2008". Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
^ Levy, Claudia. "Publisher William M. Gaines Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
^ Barron, James (June 4, 1992). "William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
^ Hajdu, David (2008). The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 90. ISBN 9780374187675.
^ Jacobs, Frank (1972). The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus: Lyle Stuart. OCLC 639071.

References

William Gaines at the Grand Comics Database
William Gaines at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)

External links

[1] Inkpot Award

[2] Schumer, Arlen (September 21, 2015). "The 13 Most Influential Jewish Creators and Execs, PART 3". 13th Dimension.

[3] Lepore, Jill (October 2014). "The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved August 14, 2020.

[memorialmatters-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f In Remembrance of William Maxwell Gaines www.memorialmatters.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.

[encyclopediacom-5] Gaines, William Maxwell Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.

[britannica-6] William Maxwell Gaines, American publisher Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 26, 2022.

[7] Kihss, Peter. "No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says". New York Times, April 22, 1954, p. 1.

[8] Nyberg, Amy (February 1, 1998). Seal of Approval: The Origins and History of Code, Volume 1. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 61–63. ISBN 0-87805-974-1. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[9] Winn, Marie (January 25, 1981). "Winn, Marie. "What Became of Childhood Innocence?", The New York Times, January 25, 1981". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2011.

[Barron-10] Barron, James (June 4, 1992). "William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70". The New York Times.

[11] "The Mad, mad world of Al Jaffee". CNN. December 14, 2011.

[12] DeBartolo, Dick (1994). Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 978-1-56025-077-7. OCLC 30668068.

[13] "News from ME - Mark Evanier's blog".

[14] Dick De Bartolo. 1995. Good Days and Mad. Thundermouth Press.

[15] Adler, Tim (May 16, 2010). "CANNES: John Landis Developing Biopic of 1950s EC Comics Crusader William Gaines". Deadline London.

[16] "Worley, Rob M. Feldstein consulting on Gaines biopic", April 14, 2008". Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2011.

[17] Levy, Claudia. "Publisher William M. Gaines Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 28, 2023.

[18] Barron, James (June 4, 1992). "William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2023.

[19] Hajdu, David (2008). The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 90. ISBN 9780374187675.

[20] Jacobs, Frank (1972). The Mad World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus: Lyle Stuart. OCLC 639071.

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+{{short description|American publisher}}
 {{Other people}}
+{{Original research|date=April 2016}}
 {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
 {{Use American English|date=April 2016}}
-{{Multiple issues|
-{{More footnotes|date=April 2016}}
-{{Original research|date=April 2016}}
-}}
 {{Infobox comics creator
 | image         = William Gaines.jpg
-| image_size    = 240
 | caption       =
 | birth_name    = William Maxwell Gaines
-| birth_place   = [[Brooklyn]], New York
+| birth_place   = [[New York City]], US
 | birth_date    = {{birth date|1922|03|01}}
 | death_date    = {{death date and age|1992|06|03|1922|03|01}}
-| death_place   =
+| death_place   = New York, US
-| nationality   = US
 | cartoonist    =
 | write         = y
 | edit          = y
 | publish       = y
-| notable works = ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]''<br />[[EC Comics]]
+| notable works = ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]''<br />[[EC Comics]]<br />"[[Master Race (EC Comics)|Master Race]]"
+| awards        = [[Inkpot Award]] (1990)<ref>[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]</ref>
-| awards        =
 | website       =
-| sortkey       = Gaines, Williams
-| subcat        = American
 }}
-'''William Maxwell''' "'''Bill'''" '''Gaines''' (March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), 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. He published the popular satirical magazine ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' for over 40 years.
+'''William Maxwell''' "'''Bill'''" '''Gaines''' ({{IPAc-en|g|eɪ|n|z}}; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992) 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. He published the satirical magazine ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' for over 40 years.
 He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame]] (1993) and the [[List of Harvey Award winners#The Jack Kirby Hall of Fame|Jack Kirby Hall of Fame]] (1997). In 2012, he was inducted into the Ghastly Awards' Hall of Fame.
 ==Early life==
-Gaines was the son of [[Max Gaines]], who as publisher of the All-American Comics division of [[DC Comics]] was also an influential figure in the history of comics. The elder Gaines tested the idea of packaging and selling comics on newsstands in 1933. In 1941, Max Gaines accepted [[William Moulton Marston]]'s proposal for the first successful female superhero, [[Wonder Woman]].
+Gaines was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City|New York]], to a [[Jewish]] household.<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 |first=Arlen |last=Schumer |date=September 21, 2015 |publisher=13th Dimension}}</ref> His father was [[Max Gaines]], who as publisher of the All-American Comics division of [[DC Comics]] was also an influential figure in the history of comics. The elder Gaines tested the idea of packaging and selling comics on newsstands in 1933, and Gaines accepted [[William Moulton Marston]]'s proposal in 1941 for the first successful female superhero, [[Wonder Woman]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lepore |first1=Jill |title=The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=14 August 2020 |language=en |date=October 2014}}</ref>
+As [[World War II]] began, Gaines was rejected by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]], the [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]] and the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]], so he went to his local [[draft board]] and requested to be drafted.<ref name="memorialmatters">[https://www.memorialmatters.com/memorial-print.php?page=William-Gaines In Remembrance of William Maxwell Gaines] www.memorialmatters.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.</ref> He trained as an [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Corps]] photographer at [[Lowry Air Force Base|Lowry Field]] in Denver.<ref name="memorialmatters"/><ref name="encyclopediacom">[https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gaines-william-maxwell Gaines, William Maxwell] [[Encyclopedia.com]]. Retrieved February 26, 2022.</ref><ref name="britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Maxwell-Gaines William Maxwell Gaines, American publisher] [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Retrieved February 26, 2022.</ref> However, when he was assigned to an [[Oklahoma City]] field without a photographic facility, he wound up on permanent [[KP duty]].<ref name="memorialmatters"/> As he explained in 1976 to Bill Craig of ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]]'', "Being an eater, this assignment was a real pleasure for me. There were four of us, and we always found all the choice bits the cooks had hidden away. We'd be frying up [[filet mignon]] and [[Steak#Ham steak|ham steaks]] every night. The hours were great, too. I think it was eight hours on and 40 off."<ref name="memorialmatters"/> Stationed at [[Beauregard Regional Airport|DeRidder Army Airfield]] in Louisiana, he was reassigned to [[Marshall Army Airfield|Marshall Airfield]] in Kansas and then to [[Governors Island]], New York. Leaving the service in 1946, he returned home to complete his chemistry studies at [[New York University Tandon School of Engineering|Brooklyn Polytechnic]], but soon transferred to [[New York University]], intent on obtaining a [[Certified teacher|teaching certificate]].<ref name="memorialmatters"/> In 1947, he was in his senior year at NYU when his father was killed in a motorboat accident on [[Lake Placid (New York)|Lake Placid]]. Instead of becoming a chemistry teacher, he took over the family business, [[EC Comics]].<ref name="memorialmatters"/><ref name="britannica"/>
-==Army years and education==
-As [[World War II]] began, Bill Gaines was rejected by the [[United States Army]], [[United States Coast Guard]] and [[United States Navy]], so he went to his draft board and requested to be drafted. He trained as an [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] photographer at [[Lowry Air Force Base|Lowry Field in Denver]]. However, when he was assigned to an [[Oklahoma City]] field which did not have a photographic facility, he wound up on permanent [[KP duty]]. As he explained in 1976 to Bill Craig of ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]]'', "Being an eater, this assignment was a real pleasure for me. There were four of us, and we always found all the choice bits the cooks had hidden away. We'd be frying up filet mignon and ham steaks every night. The hours were great, too. I think it was eight hours on and 40 off."
+==Career==
-Gaines was stationed at [[Beauregard Regional Airport|DeRidder Army Airfield]] in Louisiana, at [[Marshall Army Airfield|Marshall Field in Kansas]], and then at [[Governors Island]], New York.  Leaving the service in 1946, he returned home to complete his chemistry studies at [[Polytechnic Institute of New York University|Brooklyn Polytech]], but soon transferred to [[New York University]], intent on obtaining a teaching certificate.  In 1947, he was in his senior year at NYU when his father was killed in a motorboat accident on [[Lake Placid (New York)|Lake Placid]].  Instead of becoming a chemistry teacher, Bill Gaines took over the family business, EC Comics.
+===Senate Subcommittee investigation===
+With the publication of Dr. [[Fredric Wertham]]'s ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'', comic books like those that Gaines published attracted the attention of the U.S. Congress. In 1954, Gaines testified before the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency|Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency]].<ref>Kihss, Peter. "No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says". ''New York Times'', April 22, 1954, p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nyberg|first1=Amy|title=Seal of Approval: The Origins and History of Code, Volume 1|date=February 1, 1998|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=0-87805-974-1|pages=61–63|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGDschFUKRQC&pg=PA61|access-date=9 November 2016}}</ref> In the following exchanges, he is addressed first by Chief Counsel Herbert Beaser, and then by Senator [[Estes Kefauver]]:
-==Early publishing career==
-The EC initials stood for both Educational Comics and Entertaining Comics, and the company was at that point best known for its adaptations of Bible stories.
-Bill Gaines found his niche in publishing [[Horror fiction|horror]], science fiction, satire and war comics. His comic books, including ''[[Tales from the Crypt (comic)|Tales from the Crypt]]'', ''[[The Vault of Horror]]'', ''[[Shock SuspenStories]]'', ''[[Weird Science (comic)|Weird Science]]'' and ''[[Two-Fisted Tales]]'', featured stories with content above the level of the typical comic. For a complete roster of titles, see the [[List of Entertaining Comics publications]]. Begun in 1952, ''Mad'' was the company's biggest and longest-lasting success. Its popularity inspired dozens of similar publications, including EC's own ''[[Panic (comic)|Panic]]''.
-EC horror comics were not generic compilations of ghoulish clichés, but subtle, satiric approaches to horror with genuine dilemmas and startling "twist" outcomes. Likewise, EC's science fiction and fantasy titles dealt with adult issues like the meaning of progress. In part because of the higher-quality material, EC soon assembled a stable of artists unparalleled in the industry then (and some argue, ever). Regular contributors included [[Wally Wood]], [[Jack Davis (cartoonist)|Jack Davis]], [[Will Elder]], [[George Evans (comics)|George Evans]], [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]], [[Graham Ingels]], [[Al Williamson]], [[Johnny Craig]], [[Reed Crandall]], [[Jack Kamen]], [[Bernard Krigstein]], [[John Severin]], [[Joe Orlando]] and [[Frank Frazetta]], along with editor/artists [[Harvey Kurtzman]] and [[Al Feldstein]]. The company treated its illustrators as selling points, profiling them in full-page biographies and permitting them to sign their work, a rarity in 1950s comic books. EC was notable for its lack of a "house style," as the artists were encouraged to pursue distinctive techniques.
-All this was promoted with a snappy company attitude, in which the EC readers themselves were regularly tweaked and insulted for their poor taste in having selected an EC product. This only had the effect of attracting an avid fanbase who enjoyed the impudent posturing and in-jokes. Pressed for content, Gaines' company soon began adapting stories drawn from classic authors, such as [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. Kurtzman periodically ran humorously illustrated versions of famous poems to fill space in ''Mad''.
-==Senate Subcommittee investigation==
-With the publication of Dr. [[Fredric Wertham]]'s ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'', comic books like those that Gaines published attracted the attention of the U.S. Congress. In 1954, Gaines testified before the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency|Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency]].<ref>Kihss, Peter. "No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says". ''New York Times'', April 22, 1954, p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nyberg|first1=Amy|title=Seal of Approval: The Origins and History of the Comics Code, Volume 1|date=February 1, 1998|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=0-87805-974-1|pages=61 - 63|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGDschFUKRQC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA63|accessdate=9 November 2016}}</ref> In the following exchanges, he is addressed first by Chief Counsel Herbert Beaser, and then by senator [[Estes Kefauver]]:
 {{dialogue
 |Beaser=Beaser
 |Gaines=Gaines
 |Kefauver=Kefauver
 |Beaser|Is the sole test of what you would put into your magazine whether it sells? Is there any limit you can think of that you would not put in a magazine because you thought a child should not see or read about it?
@@ Line 74: / Line 56: @@
 }}
+===End of EC Comics and conversion of ''Mad'' format===
-Gaines' opening statement was out of touch with the mood of the day, and of the subcommittee hearing in particular; but it has come to be remembered as a steadfast defense of the intellectual and creative freedoms later affirmed by Gaines' ''Mad'', among others:{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}
+Gaines converted ''Mad'' to a magazine in 1955, partly to retain the services of its talented editor [[Harvey Kurtzman]], who had received offers from elsewhere. The change enabled ''Mad'' to escape the strictures of the Comics Code Authority. Kurtzman left Gaines's employ a year later anyway and was replaced by [[Al Feldstein]], who had been Gaines's most prolific editor during the [[EC Comics]] run. (For details of this event and the subsequent debates about it, see [[Harvey Kurtzman's editorship of Mad]].) Feldstein oversaw ''Mad'' from 1955 through 1986, as Gaines went on to a long and profitable career as a publisher of satire and enemy of bombast.<ref>{{cite news|last=Winn |first=Marie |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0611F93E5F0C768EDDA80894D9484D81&scp=7&sq=childhood%20innocence&st=cse |title=Winn, Marie. "What Became of Childhood Innocence?", ''The New York Times'', January 25, 1981 |work=The New York Times|date=January 25, 1981 |access-date=2011-02-02}}</ref>
-:"Entertaining reading has never harmed anyone. Men of good will, free men should be very grateful for one sentence in the statement made by Federal Judge [[John M. Woolsey]] when he lifted the ban on ''[[Ulysses (book)|Ulysses]]''.  Judge Woolsey said, 'It is only with the normal person that the law is concerned.' May I repeat, he said, "It is only with the normal person that the law is concerned."  Our American children are for the most part normal children. They are bright children, but those who want to prohibit comic magazines seem to see dirty, sneaky, perverted monsters who use the comics as a blueprint for action. Perverted little monsters are few and far between. They don't read comics. The chances are most of them are in schools for retarded children.
-:What are we afraid of? Are we afraid of our own children? Do we forget that they are citizens, too, and entitled to select what to read or do? Do we think our children are so evil, so simple minded, that it takes a story of murder to set them to murder, a story of robbery to set them to robbery? [[Jimmy Walker]] once remarked that he never knew a girl to be ruined by a book. Nobody has ever been ruined by a comic."<ref>[http://comics212.net/2011/02/22/william-gaines/ Comics 212]</ref>
+To celebrate a circulation milestone of 1 million magazines, Gaines took his staff to Haiti. In Haiti the magazine had a single subscriber. Gaines personally delivered his subscription renewal card.<ref name="Barron">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/04/nyregion/william-gaines-publisher-of-mad-magazine-since-52-is-dead-at-70.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | work=The New York Times | first=James | last=Barron | title=William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70 | date=June 4, 1992}}</ref>
-In 1993, a story published in the first issue of the American comic book ''[[List of The Simpsons comics#Radioactive Man|Radioactive Man]]''<ref>{{cite journal |title=Dr. Crab's Commie Comics |date=January 1993 |journal=Radioactive Man |publisher=[[Bongo Comics]]}}</ref> parodied the subcommittee's remonstrations with Gaines:
+Despite his largesse, Gaines had a penny-pinching side. He would frequently stop meetings to find out who had called a particular long-distance phone number. Longtime ''Mad'' editor [[Nick Meglin]] called Gaines a "living contradiction" in 2011, saying, "He was singularly the cheapest man in the world, and the most generous." Meglin described his experience of asking Gaines for a raise of $3 a week; after rejecting the request, the publisher then treated Meglin to an expensive dinner at one of New York's best restaurants. Recalled Meglin: "The check came, and I said, 'That's the whole raise!' "And Bill said, 'I like good conversation and good food. I don't enjoy giving raises.'"<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/04/us/al-jaffee-mad-magazine/index.html | work=CNN | title=The Mad, mad world of Al Jaffee | date=December 14, 2011}}</ref>
-{{dialogue
-|Senator=Senator
-|Maimes=Maimes
+(According to veteran Golden Age comics artist [[Sheldon Moldoff]], Gaines was not too fond of paying percentages, either.)
-|Senator|Mr. Maimes, you're accused of anti-American activities for peddling your violent cartoon swill to the youth of America. Do you have any possible defense to offer for your wretched acts?
+In his memoir ''Good Days and Mad'' (1994), ''Mad'' writer [[Dick DeBartolo]] recalls several anecdotes that characterize Gaines as a generous gourmand who liked practical jokes, and who enjoyed good-natured verbal abuse from his staffers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine |last=DeBartolo |first=Dick |author-link=Dick DeBartolo |year=1994 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-56025-077-7 |oclc=30668068 |url=https://archive.org/details/gooddaysmadhyste00deba }}</ref>{{pages needed|date=April 2016}}
-|Maimes|Mr. Chairman, violent comics aren't bad for kids—''stupid, unimaginative comics'' are bad for kids! In the context of our thought-provoking, well-illustrated stories, there's nothing wrong with a gruesome disemboweling or two.
-}}
-==End of EC==
+===1960–1992===
-Gaines was depicted by the national media as America's most amoral publisher. By 1955, EC was effectively driven out of business by the backlash, and by the '''Comics Magazine Association of America'''. This was an industry group that Gaines himself had suggested to the industry in order to insulate themselves from outside censorship, but he soon lost control of the organization to John Goldwater, publisher of the innocuous [[Archie Comics|Archie]] teenage comics. The [[Comics Code]] that was approved and adopted by most of the country's prominent publishers contained restrictions specifically targeted at Gaines' line of horror and crime comic books. Although he had already ceased publishing his line of horror comics, Gaines refused to subscribe to the Code, considering it hypocritical and not applicable to the new, clean line of realistic comics that he was promoting by then. This refusal, together with his already tarnished reputation, put EC on the verge of bankruptcy. Although Gaines relented and accepted the code, distributors refused to pass his titles along to newsstands. The damage was done, and Gaines abandoned comic books completely. He chose to concentrate his business on EC's only profitable title, ''Mad,'' which had recently changed to a magazine format. After distributor Leader News went bankrupt in 1956, EC was left with over $100,000 in unrecoverable debt. Gaines invested a considerable portion of his personal fortune to keep the company alive until a deal could be made with a new distributor.
+In 1961, Gaines sold ''Mad'' to Premier Industries, a maker of venetian blinds,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2017/06/13/what-he-worry/ | title=News from ME - Mark Evanier's blog }}</ref> but remained publisher until the day he died, and served as a buffer between the magazine and its corporate interests. He largely stayed out of the magazine's production, often viewing content just before the issue was shipped to the printer. "My staff and contributors create the magazine," declared Gaines. "What I create is the atmosphere."<ref>Dick De Bartolo. 1995. Good Days and Mad. Thundermouth Press.</ref> Around 1964, Premier sold Mad to [[Independent News]], a division of National Periodical Publications, the publisher of [[DC Comics]]. In 1967, [[Kinney National Company]] purchased National Periodical, and then in 1969, they bought [[Warner Brothers]]. In 1972, Kinney became [[Warner Communications]].
-==''Mad'' becomes a magazine==
-Gaines converted ''Mad'' to a magazine in 1955, partly to retain the services of its talented editor [[Harvey Kurtzman]], who had received offers from elsewhere. The change enabled ''Mad'' to escape the strictures of the Comics Code. Kurtzman left Gaines' employ a year later anyway and was replaced by [[Al Feldstein]], who had been Gaines' most prolific editor during the EC Comics run. (For details of this event and the subsequent debates about it, see [[Harvey Kurtzman#Departure from Mad]].) Feldstein oversaw ''Mad'' from 1955 through 1986, as Gaines went on to a long and profitable career as a publisher of satire and enemy of bombast.<ref>{{cite news|last=Winn |first=Marie |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0611F93E5F0C768EDDA80894D9484D81&scp=7&sq=childhood%20innocence&st=cse |title=Winn, Marie. "What Became of Childhood Innocence?", ''The New York Times'', January 25, 1981 |publisher=Select.nytimes.com |date=January 25, 1981 |accessdate=2011-02-02}}</ref>
+One of Gaines' last televised interviews was as a guest on the December 7, 1991, episode of ''[[Beyond Vaudeville]]''.
-Although ''Mad'' was sold in the early 1960s for tax reasons, Gaines remained as publisher until the day he died and served as a buffer between the magazine and its corporate interests. In turn, he largely stayed out of the magazine's production, often viewing content just before the issue was shipped to the printer. "My staff and contributors create the magazine," declared Gaines. "What I create is the atmosphere."
+Circa 2008, director [[John Landis]] and screenwriter [[Joel Eisenberg]] planned a [[biopic]] called ''Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines'', with Al Feldstein serving as a creative consultant.<ref>{{cite web|first=Tim|last=Adler|url=https://deadline.com/2010/05/cannes-john-landis-lines-up-biopic-of-ec-comics-creator-41373/|title=CANNES: John Landis Developing Biopic of 1950s EC Comics Crusader William Gaines|publisher=Deadline London|date=May 16, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mania.com/feldstein-consulting-gaines-biopic_article_90874.html |title=Worley, Rob M. Feldstein consulting on Gaines biopic", April 14, 2008. |access-date=February 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017054410/http://www.mania.com/feldstein-consulting-gaines-biopic_article_90874.html |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The film, however, did not get past [[pre-production]].{{fact|date=July 2022}}
-==Business methods==
-Gaines ran his business in an eclectic and sometimes counterintuitive fashion. When agreeing to contracts, he insisted on striking the standard clause prescribing that both parties must settle disputes in a reasonable manner, saying that he could never promise to be reasonable. On the other hand, Gaines rejected a lucrative incentive package from [[Warner Brothers]] that would have been based on increased sales of ''Mad''; Gaines explained that the act of accepting the incentive would have falsely suggested that he was not already doing everything within his abilities to maximize the magazine's circulation.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}
+==Death==
-He valued reader [[Larry Stark]]'s letters of critical commentary to such a degree that he gave a lifetime subscription to Stark, who later became a well-known Boston [[Critic|theater critic]]. The original EC comic books ran paid ads, but ''Mad'' magazine quickly dropped all advertising and never accepted it again during Gaines' lifetime. Kurtzman and Feldstein urged Gaines to accept advertising, without result. Merchandising was also scarce and heavily overseen by Gaines, who apparently preferred to forego profit rather than risk disappointing ''Mad'''s fans with substandard ancillary products. In 1980, following the colossal success of ''[[National Lampoon's Animal House]]'', Gaines lent the name of his magazine to the bawdy spoof ''[[Up the Academy]]''. When the movie proved to be a disjointed botch, Gaines paid the film company to remove all references to the magazine from all future prints and even issued private refunds to fans who wrote complaint letters.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}
+On June 3, 1992, Gaines died in his sleep at his home in New York at the age of 70. He had been in ill health in recent years and used a pacemaker.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levy |first1=Claudia |title=Publisher William M. Gaines Dies |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1992/06/04/publisher-william-m-gaines-dies/0c8ba193-ab1e-42a9-ad28-7b4f8826b3ab/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=28 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Barron |first1=James |title=William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70 |work=The New York Times |date=June 4, 1992 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/04/nyregion/william-gaines-publisher-of-mad-magazine-since-52-is-dead-at-70.html |access-date=28 August 2023}}</ref>
+==Personal life==
-Gaines was devoted to his staff, and fostered an environment of humor and loyalty. This he accomplished through various means, notably the "''Mad'' trips." Each year, Gaines would pay for the magazine's staff and its steadiest contributors to fly to an international locale. The first vacation, to [[Haiti]], set the tone. Discovering that ''Mad'' had a grand total of one Haitian subscriber, Gaines arranged to have the group driven to the person's house. There, surrounded by the magazine's editors, artists and writers, Gaines formally presented the bewildered subscriber with a renewal card. When the man's neighbor also bought a subscription, Gaines declared the trip to be a financial success because the magazine had doubled its Haitian circulation.  The trips became a more elaborate annual event, and the staff would eventually visit six of the world's continents.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/04/nyregion/william-gaines-publisher-of-mad-magazine-since-52-is-dead-at-70.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | work=The New York Times | first=James | last=Barron | title=William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70 | date=June 4, 1992}}</ref>
+Gaines's first marriage was arranged by his mother. He was married to his second cousin Hazel Grieb. They announced their plans to divorce in August 1947.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hajdu|first=David|title=The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America|year=2008|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|location=New York, NY|isbn=9780374187675|page=[https://archive.org/details/tencentplaguegre00hajd/page/90 90]|url=https://archive.org/details/tencentplaguegre00hajd/page/90}}</ref> According to ''Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine'' by [[Maria Reidelbach]], Gaines married Nancy Siegel in 1955. They had three children, Cathy (1958), Wendy (1959), and Christopher (1961). They divorced in 1971. In 1987 he married Anne Griffiths. They remained married until his death in 1992.<ref name="Barron"/>
+Gaines was an [[atheist]] since the age of 12; he once told a reporter that his was probably the only home in America in which the children were brought up to believe in [[Santa Claus]], but not in [[God]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Jacobs |title=The Mad World of William M. Gaines |location=Secaucus |publisher=Lyle Stuart |year=1972 |oclc=639071}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2016}}
-Despite his largesse, Gaines had a penny-pinching side.  He would frequently stop meetings to find out who had called a particular long-distance phone number. Longtime ''Mad'' editor [[Nick Meglin]] called Gaines a "living contradiction" in 2011, saying, "He was singularly the cheapest man in the world, and the most generous."  Meglin described his experience of asking Gaines for a raise of $3 a week; after rejecting the request, the publisher then treated Meglin to an expensive dinner at one of New York's best restaurants.  Recalled Meglin: "The check came, and I said, 'That's the whole raise!' "And Bill said, 'I like good conversation and good food. I don't enjoy giving raises.'"<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/04/us/al-jaffee-mad-magazine/index.html | work=CNN | title=The Mad, mad world of Al Jaffee | date=December 14, 2011}}</ref>
-In 1960, Gaines had arranged to move the magazine's offices to the 69th floor of the [[Empire State Building]], but switched to a different location in the East 50s because one of the women in ''Mad'''s subscription department would have been terrified of the length of the elevator ride. His passions for gourmet food and wine prompted him to build a wine cellar in the middle of his Manhattan apartment. He managed to go from his apartment to his favorite restaurant by mapping out a route so he could get there by walking downhill only.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}
-In his memoir ''Good Days and Mad'' (1994), ''Mad'' writer [[Dick DeBartolo]] recalls several anecdotes that characterize Gaines as a generous gourmand who liked practical jokes, and who enjoyed good-natured verbal abuse from his staffers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine |last=DeBartolo |first=Dick |authorlink=Dick DeBartolo |year=1994 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |location=New York |isbn=978-1-56025-077-7 |oclc=30668068}}</ref>{{pages needed|date=April 2016}}
-[[Frank Jacobs]] paints a similar picture in ''The Mad World of William M. Gaines'' (1972), a biography published by longtime friend [[Lyle Stuart]]. A biographical film, ''Ghoulishly Yours, William M. Gaines'', has [[development hell|long been in pre-production]]; director [[John Landis]] and screenwriter Joel Eisenberg have been attached to the project since 2008, with Feldstein as a creative consultant.<ref>{{cite web|first=Tim|last=Adler|url=http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/cannes-john-landis-lines-up-biopic-of-ec-comics-creator/|title=CANNES: John Landis Developing Biopic of 1950s EC Comics Crusader William Gaines|publisher=Deadline London|date=May 16, 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://www.mania.com/feldstein-consulting-gaines-biopic_article_90874.html Worley, Rob M. Feldstein consulting on Gaines biopic", April 14, 2008.]</ref>
-Gaines was an [[atheist]] since the age of 12; he once told a reporter that his was probably the only home in America in which the children were brought up to believe in Santa Claus but not in God.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Frank |authorlink=Frank Jacobs |title=The Mad World of William M. Gaines |location=Secaucus |publisher=Lyle Stuart |year=1972 |oclc=639071}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2016}}
-Toward the end of his life, Gaines' name on ''Mad'''s masthead grew more and more elaborate, ending as "William Mildred Farnsworth Higgenbottom Pius Gaines IX Esq."  When asked about the magazine's philosophy, he said, "''Mad''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s philosophy is, we must never stop reminding the reader of how little value they get for their money!"{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}
-==Personal life==
-Gaines' first marriage was arranged by his mother, as recounted in "The Ten-Cent Plague:  The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America" by David Hajdu.  He was married to his second cousin, Hazel Grieb.  They announced their plans to divorce in August 1947.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hajdu|first=David|title=The Ten-Cent Plague:  The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America|year=2008|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|location=New York, NY|isbn=9780374187675|page=90}}</ref> According to ''Completely Mad: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine'' by [[Maria Reidelbach]], Gaines married Nancy Siegel in 1955. They had three children, Cathy (1958), Wendy (1959), and Christopher (1961). They divorced in 1971. In 1987 he married Anne Griffiths. They remained married until his death in 1992.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/04/nyregion/william-gaines-publisher-of-mad-magazine-since-52-is-dead-at-70.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | work=The New York Times | first=James | last=Barron | title=William Gaines, Publisher of Mad Magazine Since '52, Is Dead at 70 | date=June 4, 1992}}</ref>
 ==Notes==
@@ Line 122: / Line 86: @@
 ==References==
-{{Refbegin}}
 * {{gcdb|type=credit|search=William+Gaines|title=William Gaines}}
 * {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=4700|title=William Gaines}}
-{{Refend}}
 ==External links==
+{{Wikiquote}}
 * [http://www.instantclassics.com/ic_html/gaines1.html Annotated transcript of the William M. Gaines memorial service]
-* [http://www.thecomicbooks.com/gaines.html Transcript of Gaines' 1954 testimony to Congress]
+* [http://www.thecomicbooks.com/gaines.html Transcript of Gaines's 1954 testimony to Congress]
 * [http://www.comic-art.com/intervws/gaines11.htm Gaines interviewed by Steve Ringgenberg]
 * [http://www.reason.com/0506/cr.fh.the.shtml ''Reason''. "The Long, Gory Life of EC Comics"]
 * [http://www.williammgaines.com Dick DeBartolo's William M. Gaines Memorial Page]
 * [http://www.gizwizbiz.com Dick DeBartolo's ''Daily Giz Wiz'' podcast]
-* http://ghastlys.blogspot.com/p/hall-of-fame.html
 {{eccontribs}}
 {{Mad magazine}}
 {{madcontribs}}
+{{Inkpot Award 1990s}}
 {{Authority control}}
@@ Line 146: / Line 108: @@
 [[Category:1922 births]]
 [[Category:1992 deaths]]
+[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
+[[Category:20th-century atheists]]
 [[Category:American atheists]]
-[[Category:American military personnel of World War II]]
+[[Category:American comic book editors]]
+[[Category:American magazine publishers (people)]]
+[[Category:Artists from Brooklyn]]
 [[Category:Comic book company founders]]
+[[Category:Comic book publishers (people)]]
+[[Category:EC Comics]]
+[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
+[[Category:Jewish American comics creators]]
+[[Category:Jewish American atheists]]
+[[Category:Jewish American military personnel]]
 [[Category:Mad (magazine) people]]
-[[Category:Jack Kirby Hall of Fame inductees]]
+[[Category:Military personnel from New York City]]
-[[Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees]]
+[[Category:Military personnel from New York (state)]]
+[[Category:People from Brooklyn]]
+[[Category:Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni]]
 [[Category:Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni]]
+[[Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II]]
+[[Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees]]

v t e Mad
General	History of Mad Recurring features Alfred E. Neuman Fold-in Spy vs. Spy
Editors	Harvey Kurtzman editorship Al Feldstein Nick Meglin John Ficarra
Lists	Film spoofs TV show spoofs
Television shows	Mad TV episodes Mad episodes
Related	Berlin v. E.C. EC Comics Mad Kids The Mad Show Maria Reidelbach Planet Tad Potrzebie Up the Academy William Gaines Al Jaffee

v t e Contributors to Mad
"The Usual Gang of Idiots"
Publisher	William M. Gaines (1952–1992)
Editors	Harvey Kurtzman (1952–1956) editorship Al Feldstein (1956–1984) John Ficarra (1984–2017) Nick Meglin (1984–2004) Joe Raiola (1984–2017) Bill Morrison (2017–2019) Allie Goertz (2018–2019)
Writers	Tony Barbieri Dick DeBartolo Desmond Devlin Michael Gallagher Stan Hart Frank Jacobs Tom Koch Arnie Kogen Paul Laikin Barry Liebmann Larry Siegel Lou Silverstone Mike Snider
Writer-Artists	Sergio Aragonés Dave Berg John Caldwell Jerry DeFuccio Duck Edwing Al Jaffee Peter Kuper Don Martin Paul Peter Porges Antonio Prohías
Artists	John Putnam (Art Director, 1954–1980) Tom Bunk Bob Clarke Paul Coker Jack Davis Mort Drucker Will Elder Frank Kelly Freas Drew Friedman Bob Jones Hermann Mejía Norman Mingo Joe Orlando Tom Richmond Jack Rickard John Severin Bob Staake Angelo Torres Rick Tulka Sam Viviano James Warhola Basil Wolverton Monte Wolverton Wally Wood George Woodbridge Bill Wray
Infrequent contributors	Stan Freberg Russ Heath Donald Knuth Ernie Kovacs Jay Lynch Henry Morgan Roger Price Irving Schild Bernard Shir-Cliff
Related	Alfred E. Neuman Maria Reidelbach

v t e Inkpot Award (1990s)
1990	Karen Berger Bob Burden Tom DeFalco William Gaines Jim Henson Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier Grant Morrison Bob Overstreet Mary Reynante Bob Schreck Ken Steacy Rick Sternbach Charles Vess
1991	Alicia Austin Clive Barker Dan Barry Dan DeCarlo Creig Flessel Neil Gaiman Ted "Dr. Seuss" Geisel Keith Giffen George Gladir Joe Haldeman Lynn Johnston Carol Kalish Don Maitz Sheldon Moldoff Steve Oliff Julie Roloff Stan Sakai
1992	Carina Burns-Chenelle Bob Chapman Francis Ford Coppola Robin Doig Alan Grant Bill Griffith Ray Harryhausen Marc Hempel Jim Lee Milo Manara Scott McCloud Todd McFarlane Rowena Morrill Diane Noomin Louise Simonson Dick Sprang Vernor Vinge Mark Wheatley
1993	Jim Aparo Gary Carter Phil Foglio Robert Goodwin Ferd Johnson Don Martin Dave McKean Clydene Nee Paul Norris Paul Power P. Craig Russell Mark Schultz Vincent Sullivan Michael Whelan Roger Zelazny
1994	Mike Carlin Paul Chadwick Al Feldstein Stan Goldberg Roberta Gregory Chad Grothkopf Jerry Ordway Bud Plant Mike Richardson John Romita, Jr. Richard Rowell Lucius Shepard Mickey Spillane J. Michael Straczynski Rumiko Takahashi
1995	Roger Corman Greg Hildebrandt (Brothers Hildebrandt) Tim Hildebrandt (Brothers Hildebrandt) Ryoichi Ikegami Irv Novick Joe Sinnott
1996	Donna Barr Mort Drucker Joe Giella Jim Mooney Kurt Schaffenberger François Schuiten David Siegel
1997	Dick Ayers Steve Bissette Terry Brooks Bob Haney Russ Heath Carol Lay Michael Moorcock Janice Tobias George Tuska
1998	John Broome Eddie Campbell Nick Cardy David Glanzer Fred Guardineer Lorenzo Mattotti Paul S. Newman John Severin Joe Simon Naoko Takeuchi Mark Yturralde
1999	Tom Batiuk Chuck Cuidera Samuel R. Delany Arnold Drake Sam Glanzman Larry Gonick Irwin Hasen Sue Lord
Complete list 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Netherlands Greece Sweden Israel
Artists	Photographers' Identities
People	Deutsche Biographie
Other	IdRef