Shock SuspenStories), Valor (stories of knights in armor), Aces High (a book about World War I air battles), Extra! (tales of globe-trotting reporters), Psychoanalysis (“people searching for peace of mind”) and MD (doctor and hospital stories). Virtually all of EC’s star artists drew these books: Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Johnny Craig, Bernard Krigstein, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, George Evans, Jack Kamen and John Severin.
money. Unable to match the monetary offer, Gaines cannily told Kurtzman he would convert Mad into a magazine, which Kurtzman had suggested in the past, hoping this would keep the talented writer-artist in the fold. It did, for a little over a year. Mad magazine was a spectacular success both sales-wise and creatively. Kurtzman designed its distinctive logo and format, which were retained after he left in the spring of 1956 to start a slick magazine called Trump (bankrolled by Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner). However, in late 1954, converting Mad to a magazine was a risk, adding further to Gaines’ anxiety as he prepared to launch his new comics without joining the Code.
The scripts were mostly by the writers who became regulars in the last year of the “New Trend”: Jack Oleck, Carl Wessler and Otto Binder. Daniel Keyes and Robert Bernstein wrote Psychoanalysis. All were solid professionals, though probably not as inspired as Feldstein at his best. At this stage, all Feldstein wanted to do was edit the “New Direction” titles (and the remaining “New Trend” books) and design Panic covers. (Johnny Craig edited Extra!.)
EC’s “New Direction” Gaines could have played it safe. He could have put out new titles in the popular genres of 1955: Western, romance, war and teen humor. This would have been a return to his policy before the “New Trend”, when he was just getting his bearings in the comics business. It wasn’t until Gaines and Feldstein decided to create the kind of comics they would personally enjoy that EC found success. Now Gaines and Feldstein tried to do the same thing again: invent comic books that interested them, written and drawn by the best in the business. Just as EC’s covers in 1950 announced its “New Trend,” the covers of EC’s new 1955 titles trumpeted its “New Direction” in magazines ... An entirely novel and unique kind of reading experience!”
The first issues of Impact, Valor, Aces High, Extra! and Psychoanalysis bore cover dates of March 1955, and the first issue of MD was dated April. The first five “New Direction” titles didn’t hit the stands simultaneously, but launching them in concert was an impressive achievement for Gaines and his staff. It was also a statement of Gaines’ defiance, for none of them carried the Comics Code Seal of Approval. The editorial on the inside front cover of Impact #1 titled “The Punch Bowl” began: “This magazine, ‘IMPACT,’ is the first of five E.C. “New Direction” publications. And to it, your Editors have entrusted a cherished tradition here at E.C. … THE SURPRISE ENDING! Yes, ‘IMPACT’ will be a magazine devoted to the unexpected outcome, the twist, the snap wind-up.”
The “New Direction” titles were Impact (a mild version of
When one describes Impact as a “mild version of ShockSuspenStories,” one story in its first issue must be excepted, because there was nothing mild about it. “Master Race!” was plotted by Gaines and Feldstein, scripted by Feldstein, and drawn by Bernard Krigstein. It told the story of an encounter on a New York subway between a Jewish survivor of a Nazi death camp and its commandant who was living anonymously in the city. The script called for a six-page
No one was sure whether Mad in magazine form would sell. Cover design and Page 1 cartoon by Harvey Kurtzman. TM and © Estate of William M. Gaines.
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