Max Gaines (born Maxwell Charles Gaines in the 1890's; died August 20, 1947) was one of the most influential figures in the creation of the comic book. In the early 1930s, when Gaines created the first four-color saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet, he invented the color comics format that became the standard for the comic book industry.

Gaines was also the first to distribute through newsstands. His first publications,Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies, offered reprints of Sunday newspaper comics. He became co-publisher (along with Harry Donenfield) of DC Comics (also known as National) and then split off from DC, publishing certain DC titles under the name All American Comics. DC bought him out, whereupon he started EC Comics, which had two separate lines --Educational Comics and Entertaining Comics. At Lake Placid in the summer of 1947, Max Gaines died in a boating accident. His 25-year-old son William Gaines inherited the company and changed titles to launch a line of science fiction and horror comics and, most famously, Mad.

External links

• The Eagle: "Comic books served as creative outlet for Jews" by Abraham Clearfield
• Monday Morning Memo: "Gift of a Jew"]
• Max Gaines biography
• Reform Judaism: "How the Jews Created the Comic Book Industry" by Arie Kaplan
• Sheldon Moldoff interview

1947 deaths | Comic book publishers (people)