CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #23 * CGC 5.0 * Ganging Up on Gaines

Author:
Title: CRIME SUSPENSTORIES No. 23
Place Published:
Publisher:EC [Indicia: L. L. Publishing Co. Inc.]
Date Published: June-July, 1954
Description: CGC certified: VG/Fine (5.0). White pages. Grader notes: Spine split top of spine; spine stress lines breaks color; multiple crease cover breaks color; staining to cover.

CGC Census: 149 graded copies (137 Universal, 12 Restored).

GPAnalysis: A 5.0 sold for $968 in 2/23.

Credits: Cover: George Evans. Scripts: Otto Binder, Al Feldstein, Carl Wessler. Art: Reed Crandall, Jack Kamen, George Evans. Overstreet: "Used in the 1954 Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency."Ganging Up on Gaines: Bill Gaines's comics career started when he inherited EC from his father, M.C. Gaines, who died in a powerboat smashup on Lake Placid. Gaines's comics career nearly ended with another fatal boating episode, when Senator Kefauver and Chairman Hannock lambasted him over this mag's violent cover:

KEFAUVER: This is the July one. It seems to be a man with a woman in a boat and he is choking her to death here with a crowbar. Is that in good taste?

GAINES: I think so.

HANNOCH: How could it be worse?

– To read the full transcript of Bill Gaines's Senate Subcommittee debacle, see Matthew H. Gore (compiler/editor), Primary Sources on Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency. Boardman Books: 2014, pp. 97-109.______________________________________________________________

A limited edition of ten hardcover catalogues is available, in addition to a few dozen softcovers. Fun reference, great keepsake, fully illustrated, chockablock with obscure facts, gags, bon mots. Softcovers are $40, deluxe hardcovers with dust jackets and limitation plates are $200. These books always go fast so don't delay. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

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