William Gaines
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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William Maxwell Gaines (March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992) (more frequently referred to as Bill Gaines), was the publisher and co-editor of EC Comics, and publisher of Mad for over 40 years.
Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines was arguably the first publisher to oversee a line of comic books with sufficient artistic quality and interest to appeal to adults.
Bill 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, he accepted William Moulton Marston's proposal for the first successful feminine superhero, Wonder Woman.