91-412: Independent News Co. was a magazine and comic book distribution business owned by National Periodical Publications , the parent company of DC Comics . Independent News distributed all DC publications, as well as those of a few rival publishers, such as Marvel Comics from 1957 to 1969, in addition to pulp and popular magazines. The company was founded in 1932 and operated until 1970. In 1929, as
182-415: A Justice Department lawsuit and discontinued its business. Atlas was left without distribution and was forced to turn to its biggest rival, National (DC) Comics which imposed draconian restrictions on Goodman's company. As then-Atlas editor Stan Lee recalled in a 1988 interview: ... [We had been] turning out 40, 50, 60 books a month, maybe more, and ... suddenly we went ... to either eight or 12 books
273-553: A professional association . Professional magazines may derive revenue from advertisement placements or advertorials by companies selling products and services to a specific professional audience. Examples include Advertising Age , Automotive News , Broadcast , The Bookseller , and The Stage . Being on the cover of certain magazines is considered an honor or distinction. Examples include Time , Rolling Stone , Vogue and Sports Illustrated . See, for example: See also cover art . The magazine cover indicator
364-446: A radio show . At the end of 1941 Donenfeld's comic businesses took in $ 2.6 million. Max Gaines , future founder of EC Comics , formed All-American Publications in 1938 after successfully seeking funding from Harry Donenfeld., As Gerard Jones writes of Donenfeld's investment: Harry had agreed on one condition: that [Gaines] take [Detective Comics partner] Jack Liebowitz on as his partner. ... Jack would be tempted to leave and form
455-411: A " film noir -ish bag of effects" in his visuals, while characters and themes found in the crime stories often showed the strong influence of writers associated with film noir , notably James M. Cain . Craig excelled in drawing stories of domestic scheming and conflict, leading David Hajdu to observe: To young people of the postwar years, when the mainstream culture glorified suburban domesticity as
546-487: A 3:1 ratio. Focusing more narrowly, MediaFinder.com found that 93 new magazines were launched during the first six months of 2014, while only 30 closed in that time frame. The category which produced the most new publications was "Regional interest", of which six new magazines were launched, including 12th & Broad and Craft Beer & Brewing . However, two magazines had to change their print schedules. Johnson Publishing 's Jet stopped printing regular issues, making
637-828: A century, due to reprints that have kept them in the public eye. In 1964–1966, Ballantine Books published five black-and-white paperbacks of EC stories: Tales of the Incredible showcased EC science fiction, while the paperbacks Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror reprinted EC horror tales. EC's Ray Bradbury adaptations were collected in The Autumn People (horror and crime) and Tomorrow Midnight (science fiction). The EC Horror Library (Nostalgia Press, 1971) featured 23 EC stories selected by Bhob Stewart and Bill Gaines, with an introduction by Stewart and an essay by theater critic Larry Stark . One of
728-648: A chemistry teacher. He never taught but instead took over the family business. In 1949 and 1950, Bill Gaines began a line of new titles featuring horror , suspense , science fiction , military fiction and crime fiction . His editors, Al Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman , who also drew covers and stories, gave assignments to such prominent and highly accomplished freelance artists as Johnny Craig , Reed Crandall , Jack Davis , Will Elder , George Evans , Frank Frazetta , Graham Ingels , Jack Kamen , Bernard Krigstein , Joe Orlando , John Severin , Al Williamson , Basil Wolverton , and Wally Wood . With input from Gaines,
819-401: A competing company if there was nothing to hold him. And it may well have been a way for Harry to keep Gaines under control; since Jack was still drawing a salary and significant bonuses from Detective Comics and [self-distributorship] Independent News, he wouldn't let Gaines take off on his own or act against the interests of the other companies. ... Gaines became the principal and Jack Liebowitz
910-452: A distributor, he came to rely more on Liebowitz to ensure that the company ran smoothly. Liebowitz ensured bills were paid on time and began to build trust with clients that Donenfeld's enterprises had never experienced. In 1935, writer/entrepreneur Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson approached Independent News in a bid to relaunch his comic book New Fun , having lost his previous backers due to poor sales and debts. Donenfeld accepted to distribute
1001-415: A favor to an old client, pulp magazine publisher Harry Donenfeld gave work to the client's son, Jack Liebowitz . Donenfeld and Liebowitz had little in common, but Liebowitz soon emerged as a man who could run finances. Whereas Donenfeld would promise the world to clients without understanding the economic realities, Liebowitz was bookish and ensured bills were paid on time and helped create respectability in
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#17327873852451092-450: A female audience, emphasizing the traditional gender roles of the 19th century. Harper's Bazaar was the first to focus exclusively on couture fashion , fashion accessories and textiles. The inclusion of didactic content about housekeeping may have increased the appeal of the magazine for a broader audience of women and men concerned about the frivolity of a fashion magazine. In the 1920s, new magazines appealed to young German women with
1183-717: A financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations, Kinney Services spun off its non-entertainment assets as National Kinney Corporation in September 1971, and it changed names to Warner Communications on February 10, 1972. The Tales from the Crypt title was licensed for a movie of that name in 1972. This was followed by another film, The Vault of Horror , in 1973. The omnibus movies Creepshow (1982) and Creepshow 2 , while using original scripts written by Stephen King and George A. Romero , were inspired by EC's horror comics. Creepshow 2 included animated interstitial material between vignettes, featuring
1274-453: A forum for public arguments by scholars and critical observers. The early periodical predecessors to magazines started to evolve to modern definition in the late 1800s. Works slowly became more specialized and the general discussion or cultural periodicals were forced to adapt to a consumer market which yearned for more localization of issues and events. Mass-circulation magazines became much more common after 1900, some with circulations in
1365-441: A long tradition. One of the earliest satirical magazines was Diyojen which was launched in 1869. There are around 20 satirical magazines; the leading ones are Penguen (70,000 weekly circulation), LeMan (50,000) and Uykusuz . Historical examples include Oğuz Aral 's magazine Gırgır (which reached a circulation of 500,000 in the 1970s) and Marko Paşa (launched 1946). Others include L-Manyak and Lombak . Publishing
1456-667: A meeting of his fellow publishers and suggested that the comic book industry gather to fight outside censorship and help repair the industry's damaged reputation. They formed the Comics Magazine Association of America and its Comics Code Authority . The CCA code expanded on the ACMP's restrictions. Unlike its predecessor, the CCA code was rigorously enforced, with all comics requiring code approval before their publication. This not being what Gaines intended, he refused to join
1547-506: A member of the trade (and likelihood of buying, for example, likelihood of having corporate purchasing authority, as determined from job title). This allows a high level of certainty that advertisements will be received by the advertiser's target audience, and it avoids wasted printing and distribution expenses. This latter model was widely used before the rise of the World Wide Web and is still employed by some titles. For example, in
1638-457: A month, which was all Independent News Distributors would accept from us. American Comics Group , another comic book publisher from the era (also with ties to Harry Donenfeld), was distributed by Independent News, as were such popular magazines as Playboy and Family Circle . Jack Liebowitz stayed with Independent News until 1965, eventually becoming a co-owner. Irwin Donenfeld , who
1729-485: A monthly record of current events along with entertaining stories, poems, and pictures. The first periodicals to branch out from news were Harper's and The Atlantic , which focused on fostering the arts. Both Harper's and The Atlantic persist to this day, with Harper's being a cultural magazine and The Atlantic focusing mainly on world events. Early publications of Harper's even held famous works such as early publications of Moby Dick or famous events such as
1820-643: A new understanding of church-state relationships and the source of political authority. The Moniteur Ottoman was a gazette written in French and first published in 1831 on the order of Mahmud II . It was the first official gazette of the Ottoman Empire , edited by Alexandre Blacque at the expense of the Sublime Porte . Its name perhaps referred to the French newspaper Le Moniteur Universel . It
1911-563: A reprint series called The EC Artists' Library featuring the comics published by EC, releasing each book by artist. This collection is printed in black and white . In 2013, Dark Horse Comics began reprinting the EC Archives in hardcover volumes, picking up where Gemstone left off, and using the same hardcover full-color format. The first volume to be reprinted was Tales From the Crypt : Volume 4 , with an essay by Cochran. In February 2024, Oni Press announced that it will revive
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#17327873852452002-529: A sensuous image and advertisements for the appropriate clothes and accessories they would want to purchase. The glossy pages of Die Dame and Das Blatt der Hausfrau displayed the "Neue Frauen", "New Girl" – what Americans called the flapper. This ideal young woman was chic, financially independent, and an eager consumer of the latest fashions. Magazines kept her up to date on fashion, arts, sports, and modern technology such as automobiles and telephones. The first women's magazine targeted toward wives and mothers
2093-449: A series of Artist's Editions books in 15" × 22" format, which consist of scans of the original inked comic book art, including pasted lettering and other editorial artifacts that remain on the original pages. Subsequent EC books in the series included a collection of Wally Wood 's EC comic stories, a collection of stories from Mad , and books collecting the work of Jack Davis and Graham Ingels . In 2012, Fantagraphics Books began
2184-682: A single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications ". Donnenfeld was also minority owner in pulp magazine distributor Leader News Company, who started it in 1939 until 1956, during that time the company distributed magazines by Trojan, as well as EC Comics . The biggest magazine distribution company of this era was American News Company , which had a virtual monopoly on all comics except DC's. From 1952 to 1957 Atlas Comics publisher Martin Goodman distributed his company's comics to newsstands through his self-owned distributor, Atlas. He then switched to American News — which shortly afterward lost
2275-613: A sister title, Panic , edited by Al Feldstein and using the regular Mad artists plus Joe Orlando . EC shifted its focus to a line of more realistic comic book titles, including M.D. and Psychoanalysis (known as the New Direction line). It also renamed its remaining science-fiction comic. Since the initial issues did not carry the Comics Code seal, the wholesalers refused to carry them. After consulting with his staff, Gaines reluctantly started submitting his comics to
2366-424: A story. At EC's peak, Feldstein edited seven titles while Kurtzman handled three. Artists were assigned stories specific to their styles; for example, Davis and Ingels often drew gruesome, supernatural-themed stories, while Kamen and Evans did tamer material. With hundreds of stories written, common themes surfaced. Some of EC's more well-known themes include: The three horror titles featured stories introduced by
2457-495: A trio of horror hosts : The Crypt Keeper introduced Tales from the Crypt ; The Vault-Keeper welcomed readers to The Vault of Horror ; and the Old Witch cackled over The Haunt of Fear . Besides gleefully recounting the unpleasant details of the stories, the characters squabbled with one another, unleashed an arsenal of puns, and even insulted and taunted the readers: "Greetings, boils and ghouls..." This irreverent mockery of
2548-470: A young protagonist who goes to great length to acquire and keep possession of an issue of the comic book Creepshow . In 1989, Tales from the Crypt began airing on the U.S. cable-TV network HBO . The series ran through 1996, comprising 93 episodes and seven seasons. Tales from the Crypt spawned two children's television series on broadcast TV , Tales from the Cryptkeeper and Secrets of
2639-696: Is The Scots Magazine , which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totalling over 90 years weaken that claim. Lloyd's List was founded in Edward Lloyd's England coffee shop in 1734; and though its online platform is still updated daily it has not been published as a magazine since 2013 after 274 years. Under the Ancien Régime , the most prominent magazines were Mercure de France , Journal des sçavans , founded in 1665 for scientists, and Gazette de France , founded in 1631. Jean Loret
2730-455: Is a not-too-serious economic indicator that is sometimes taken seriously by technical analysts. EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc. , ( doing business as EC Comics ) is an American comic book publisher . It specialized in horror fiction , crime fiction , satire , military fiction , dark fantasy , and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from
2821-616: The Journal of Accountancy . Non-peer-reviewed academic or professional publications are generally professional magazines . That a publication calls itself a journal does not make it a journal in the technical sense; The Wall Street Journal is actually a newspaper . The word "magazine" derives from Arabic makhāzin ( مخازن ), the broken plural of makhzan ( مخزن ) meaning "depot, storehouse" (originally military storehouse); that comes to English via Middle French magasin and Italian magazzino . In its original sense,
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2912-476: The Civil Rights Movement and the dawn of the 1960s counterculture . In 1954–55, censorship pressures prompted it to concentrate on the humor magazine Mad , leading to the company's greatest and most enduring success. Consequently, by 1956, the company ceased publishing all its comic lines except Mad . The firm, first known as Educational Comics, was founded by Max Gaines , former editor of
3003-718: The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle . The Pennsylvania Magazine , edited by Thomas Paine , ran only for a short time but was a very influential publication during the Revolutionary War . The final issue containing the text of the Declaration of Independence was published in 1776. In the mid-19th century, monthly magazines gained popularity. They were general interest to begin, containing some news, vignettes, poems, history, political events, and social discussion. Unlike newspapers, they were more of
3094-410: The mail , through sales by newsstands , bookstores , or other vendors, or through free distribution at selected pick-up locations. Electronic distribution methods can include social media , email , news aggregators , and visibility of a publication's website and search engine results. The traditional subscription business models for distribution fall into three main categories: In this model,
3185-525: The ACMP seals placed on comics were meaningless. In 1954, the publication of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and a highly publicized Congressional hearing on juvenile delinquency cast comic books in an especially poor light. At the same time, a federal investigation led to a shakeup in the distribution companies that delivered comic books and pulp magazines across America. Sales plummeted, and several companies went out of business. Gaines called
3276-514: The American way of life. EC always claimed to be "proudest of our science fiction titles", with Weird Science and Weird Fantasy publishing stories unlike the space opera found in such titles as Fiction House 's Planet Comics . Crime SuspenStories had many parallels with film noir . As noted by Max Allan Collins in his story annotations for Russ Cochran 's 1983 hardcover reprint of Crime SuspenStories , Johnny Craig had developed
3367-540: The Bourbon kings, but all eight ultimately urged support for the new government, putting their appeals in terms of preserving civil order. They often discussed the relationship between church and state. Generally, they urged priests to focus on spiritual matters and not engage in politics. Historian M. Patricia Dougherty says this process created a distance between the Church and the new monarch and enabled Catholics to develop
3458-653: The Comics Code Administrator, with a lawsuit when Murphy ordered EC to alter the science-fiction story "Judgment Day", in Incredible Science Fiction #33 (February 1956). The story, by the writer Al Feldstein and artist Joe Orlando , was a reprint from the pre-Code Weird Fantasy #18 (April 1953), inserted when the Code Authority had rejected an initial, original story, "An Eye for an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres, but
3549-402: The Comics Code. East Coast Comix reprinted several of EC's New Trend comics in comic form between 1973 and 1975. The first reprint was the final issue of Tales from the Crypt , with the title revised to state The Crypt of Terror . This issue was originally meant to be the first issue of a fourth horror comic which was changed to the final issue of Tales from the Crypt at the last minute when
3640-483: The Comics Code; all the New Direction titles carried the seal starting with the second issue. This attempted revamp failed commercially and after the fifth issue, all the New Direction titles were canceled. Incredible Science Fiction #33 was the last EC comic book published. Gaines switched focus to EC's Picto-Fiction titles, a line of typeset black-and-white magazines with heavily illustrated stories. Fiction
3731-643: The Crypt series. Initially, EC was founded as Educational Comics by Maxwell Gaines and specialized in educational and child-oriented stories. After Max Gaines died in a boating accident in 1947, his son William Gaines took over the company and renamed it Entertaining Comics . He printed more mature stories, delving into horror, war, fantasy, science-fiction, adventure, and other genres. Noted for their high quality and shock endings, these stories were also unique in their socially conscious, progressive themes (including racial equality , anti-war advocacy , nuclear disarmament , and environmentalism ) that anticipated
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3822-454: The Crypt , The Vault of Horror , and The Haunt of Fear . These titles reveled in a gruesome joie de vivre , with grimly ironic fates meted out to many of the stories' protagonists. The company's war comics, Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales , often featured weary-eyed, unheroic stories out of step with the jingoistic times. Shock SuspenStories tackled weighty political and social issues such as racism , sex , drug use , and
3913-484: The Cryptkeeper's Haunted House . It also spawned three "Tales from the Crypt"-branded movies, Demon Knight , Bordello of Blood , and Ritual . In 1997, HBO followed the TV series with the similar Perversions of Science (comprising 10 episodes), the episodes of which were based on stories from EC's Weird Science . Although the last non- Mad EC publication came out in 1956, EC Comics have remained popular for half
4004-705: The Galactic Republic should not admit the planet until these problems are resolved. In the final panel, he removes his helmet, revealing he is a Black man. Murphy demanded, without any authority in the Code, that the Black astronaut had to be removed. As Diehl recounted in Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives : This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. "Judge Murphy
4095-662: The Nursery" (in Collier's ) and "The Psychopathology of Comic Books" (in the American Journal of Psychotherapy ). As a result, an industry trade group , the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers , was formed in 1948 but proved ineffective. EC left the association in 1950 after Gaines argued with its executive director, Henry Schultz. By 1954 only three comic publishers were still members, and Schultz admitted that
4186-631: The United Kingdom, a number of computer-industry magazines use this model, including Computer Weekly and Computing , and in finance, Waters Magazine . For the global media industry, an example would be VideoAge International . The earliest example of magazines was Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen , a literary and philosophy magazine, which was launched in 1663 in Germany. The Gentleman's Magazine , first published in 1741 in London
4277-501: The United States. In 2019, People Magazine ranked second behind ESPN Magazine in total reach with a reported reach of 98.51 million. Professional magazines, also called trade magazines , or business-to-business magazines are targeted to readers employed in particular industries. These magazines typically cover industry trends and news of interest to professionals in the industry. Subscriptions often come with membership in
4368-581: The association. Among the Code's new rules were that no comic book title could use the words "horror" or "terror" or "weird" on its cover. When distributors refused to handle many of his comics, Gaines ended publication of his three horror and the two SuspenStory titles on September 14, 1954. Gaines waged several battles with the Comics Code Authority to keep his magazines free from censorship. In one particular example noted by comics historian Digby Diehl, Gaines threatened Judge Charles Murphy,
4459-478: The audience also became the trademark attitude of Mad , and such glib give-and-take was later mimicked by many, including Stan Lee at Marvel Comics . EC's most enduring legacy came with Mad , which started as a side project for Kurtzman before buoying the company's fortunes and becoming one of the country's most notable and long-running humor publications. When satire became an industry rage in 1954, and other publishers created imitations of Mad , EC introduced
4550-501: The brand, starting with horror title Epitaphs from the Abyss and the science fiction title Cruel Universe . The Gaines family licenses the titles. Beginning in the late 1940s, the comic book industry became the target of mounting public criticism for the content of comic books and their potentially harmful effects on children. The problem came to a head in 1948 with the publication by Dr. Fredric Wertham of two articles: "Horror in
4641-516: The comic but with a heavy loss of rights for Wheeler-Nicholson. Wheeler-Nicholson produced two more titles to be handled by Independent News, New Comics and Detective Comics (which would later see the first appearance of Batman ), now under the banner of Detective Comics Inc. , in which Wheeler-Nicholson was forced to take Donenfeld and Liebowitz as partners. In 1938, Donenfeld sued Wheeler-Nicholson for nonpayment and Detective Comics Inc. went into bankruptcy. Not too surprisingly Donenfeld bought up
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#17327873852454732-677: The comic-book company All-American Publications , and it was initially a shell company of All-American. When that company merged with DC Comics in June 1945, Gaines retained rights to the comic book Picture Stories from the Bible , and began his new company using the EC name with a plan to market comics about science, history, and the Bible to schools and churches, and soon expanded to produce children's humor titles. A decade earlier, Max Gaines had been one of
4823-455: The company and Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications in their entirety as part of the action. The fourth publication under National Allied Publications would be Action Comics (1938). Issue #1 introduced the superhero, Superman , created by artist Joe Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel , and the character's popularity created incredible profits; not only in comic book sales, but also in merchandising such as toys, costumes and even
4914-659: The company in the 1960s as E.C. Publications, Inc., and was eventually absorbed into the same corporation that later purchased National Periodical Publications (later known as DC Comics ). During the 1960s, Gaines granted Bob Barrett, Roger Hill, and Jerry Norton Weist (1949–2011), the co-founder of Million Year Picnic , permission to produce a EC Comics fanzine "Squa Tront" (1967 - 1983) that would last for several years. In June 1967, Kinney National Company (it formed on August 12, 1966, after Kinney Parking/National Cleaning merge) bought National Periodical and E.C., then it purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in early 1969. Due to
5005-498: The company published one-page biographies of them in comic books. This was in contrast to the industry's common practice, in which credits were often missing, although some artists at other companies, such as the Jack Kirby – Joe Simon team, Jack Cole and Bob Kane had been prominently promoted. EC published distinct lines of titles under its Entertaining Comics umbrella. Most notorious were its horror books, Tales from
5096-413: The company was named by DC Comics as one of the honorees in the company's 50th-anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great . Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication , generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content . They are generally financed by advertising , purchase price , prepaid subscriptions , or by a combination of
5187-412: The finances, they launched Independent News in 1932. The Donenfeld brothers had begun as printers, and they continued printing the company's magazine and comic book covers even after branching into distribution. Now Donenfeld was a distributor as well as a publisher, and was now no longer reliant on others to run his business. As a publisher, Donenfeld had managed to dodge creditors and break deals, but as
5278-427: The firm. Soon the two men were spoken of as a partnership. When Liebowitz first worked for Donenfeld, the latter's empire was little more than a publishing house for " sex pulp " and art nudie magazines distributed by Eastern News , a company run by Charles Dreyfus and Paul Sampliner . In 1931, Eastern News faced bankruptcy and could no longer pay its publishers; the company owed Donenfeld alone $ 30,000. A compromise
5369-419: The first books to reprint comic book stories in color throughout, it followed the original color guides by Marie Severin . In addition to the stories from EC's horror titles, the book also included Bernard Krigstein 's famous "Master Race" story from Impact and the first publication of Angelo Torres ' "An Eye for an Eye", originally slated for the final issue of Incredible Science Fiction but rejected by
5460-496: The horror comics were cancelled in 1954. A dozen issues ended up being reprinted. Russ Cochran reprints include EC Portfolios , The Complete EC Library , EC Classics , RCP Reprints (Russ Cochran) , EC Annuals , and EC Archives (hardcover books). The EC full-color hardcovers were under the Gemstone imprint. Dark Horse continued this series in the same format. In February 2010, IDW Publishing began publishing
5551-924: The hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Some passed the million-mark in the 1920s. It was an age of mass media . Because of the rapid expansion of national advertising, the cover price fell sharply to about 10 cents. One cause was the heavy coverage of corruption in politics, local government and big business, especially by Muckrakers. They were journalists who wrote for popular magazines to expose social and political sins and shortcomings. They relied on their own investigative journalism reporting; muckrakers often worked to expose social ills and corporate and political corruption . Muckraking magazines–notably McClure's –took on corporate monopolies and crooked political machines while raising public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and social issues such as child labor . The journalists who specialized in exposing waste, corruption, and scandal operated at
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#17327873852455642-399: The laying of the world's first transatlantic telegraph cable ; however, the majority of early content was trickle down from British events. The development of the magazines stimulated an increase in literary criticism and political debate, moving towards more opinionated pieces from the objective newspapers. The increased time between prints and the greater amount of space to write provided
5733-473: The magazine is sold to readers for a price, either on a per-issue basis or by subscription, where an annual fee or monthly price is paid and issues are sent by post to readers. Paid circulation allows for defined readership statistics. This means that there is no cover price and issues are given away, for example in street dispensers, airline, or included with other products or publications. Because this model involves giving issues away to unspecific populations,
5824-547: The middle and working classes. Periodicals were censored by the central government in Paris . They were not totally quiescent politically—often they criticized Church abuses and bureaucratic ineptitude. They supported the monarchy and they played at most a small role in stimulating the revolution. During the Revolution, new periodicals played central roles as propaganda organs for various factions. Jean-Paul Marat (1743–1793)
5915-402: The minority owner of All-American [Publications]. In 1946, Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, keeping only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC Comics . "Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics.... Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, and their affiliated firms into
6006-765: The modern American ideal – the life that made the Cold War worth fighting – nothing else in the panels of EC comics, not the giant alien cockroach that ate earthlings, not the baseball game played with human body parts, was so subversive as the idea that the exits of the Long Island Expressway emptied onto levels of Hell. Superior illustrations of stories with surprise endings became EC's trademark. Gaines would generally stay up late and read large amounts of material while seeking "springboards" for story concepts. The next day he would present each premise until Feldstein found one that he thought he could develop into
6097-550: The pioneers of the comic book form, with Eastern Color Printing 's proto-comic book Funnies on Parade , and with Dell Publishing 's Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , considered by historians the first true American comic book . When Max Gaines died in 1947 in a boating accident, his son William inherited the comics company. After four years (1942–1946) in the Army Air Corps , Gaines had returned home to finish school at New York University , planning to work as
6188-455: The results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. "This is ridiculous!" he bellowed. "I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you". Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat". At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. "Fuck you!" they shouted into
6279-417: The state and local level, like Ray Stannard Baker , George Creel , and Brand Whitlock . Others, including Lincoln Steffens , exposed political corruption in many large cities; Ida Tarbell went after John D. Rockefeller 's Standard Oil Company . Samuel Hopkins Adams in 1905 showed the fraud involved in many patent medicines, Upton Sinclair 's 1906 novel The Jungle gave a horrid portrayal of how meat
6370-568: The statistics only entail the number of issues distributed, and not who reads them. This is the model used by many trade magazines (industry-based periodicals) distributed only to qualifying readers, often for free and determined by some form of survey. Because of costs (e.g., printing and postage) associated with the medium of print, publishers may not distribute free copies to everyone who requests one (unqualified leads); instead, they operate under controlled circulation, deciding who may receive free subscriptions based on each person's qualification as
6461-553: The stories were written by Kurtzman, Feldstein, and Craig. Other writers, including Carl Wessler , Jack Oleck , and Otto Binder , were later brought on board. EC succeeded with its fresh approach and pioneered forming relationships with its readers through its letters to the editor and fan organization, the National EC Fan-Addict Club. EC Comics promoted its stable of illustrators, allowing each to sign his art and encouraging them to develop distinctive styles;
6552-499: The telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form. Feldstein, interviewed for the book Tales of Terror: The EC Companion , reiterated his recollection of Murphy making the request: So he said it can't be a Black [person]. So I said, "For God's sakes, Judge Murphy, that's the whole point of the Goddamn story!" So he said, "No, it can't be a Black". Bill [Gaines] just called him up [later] and raised
6643-411: The three. In the technical sense a journal has continuous pagination throughout a volume. Thus, Bloomberg Businessweek , which starts each issue anew with page one, is a magazine, but the Journal of Business Communication , which continues the same sequence of pagination throughout the coterminous year, is a journal. Some professional or trade publications are also peer-reviewed , for example
6734-847: The transition to digital format, though still printing an annual print edition. Ladies' Home Journal stopped their monthly schedule and home delivery for subscribers to become a quarterly newsstand-only special interest publication. According to statistics from the end of 2013, subscription levels for 22 of the top 25 magazines declined from 2012 to 2013, with just Time , Glamour and ESPN The Magazine gaining numbers. However, by 2024, some titles, notably outdoors magazines, appeared to be growing in popularity. The "seven sisters" of American women's magazines are Ladies' Home Journal , Good Housekeeping , McCall's , Woman's Day , Redbook , Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens . Some magazines, among them Godey's Lady's Book and Harper's Bazaar , were intended exclusively for
6825-461: The views of their readership and thereby were major elements in the changing political culture. For example, there were eight Catholic periodicals in 1830 in Paris. None were officially owned or sponsored by the Church and they reflected a range of opinion among educated Catholics about current issues, such as the 1830 July Revolution that overthrew the Bourbon monarchy. Several were strong supporters of
6916-451: The word "magazine" referred to a storage space or device. In the case of written publication, it refers to a collection of written articles . This explains why magazine publications share the term with storage units for military equipment such as gunpowder , artillery and firearm magazines , and in French and Russian (adopted from French as магазин ), retailers such as department stores . Print magazines can be distributed through
7007-620: Was DC's editorial director in the 1960s, was also a vice president of Independent News. In 1966, Independent News expanded its operations to the United Kingdom by acquiring the bankrupt British publisher/distributor Thorpe & Porter . With this purchase, Independent News became the sole distributor of American comics in the U.K., handling not only DC's output but also those of a few rival publishers, such as Marvel (until 1969), in addition to pulp and popular magazines. In 1967, National Periodical Publications (including Independent News)
7098-485: Was a very expensive industry in colonial times. Paper and printer's ink were taxed imported goods and their quality was inconsistent. Interstate tariffs and a poor road system hindered distribution, even on a regional scale. Many magazines were launched, most failing within a few editions, but publishers kept trying. Benjamin Franklin is said to have envisioned one of the first magazines of the American colonies in 1741,
7189-496: Was called for, and Donenfeld, not wanting to find himself hamstrung by a distributor again, approached Sampliner with the idea of creating the Independent News Company, a publishing house with its own distribution system. With Sampliner running the distribution end, Donenfeld as salesman, Harry's youngest brother Irving (not to be mistaken for Harry's son: Irwin Donenfeld ) as head printer, and Liebowitz running
7280-471: Was formatted to alternate illustrations with blocks of typeset text, and some of the contents were rewrites of stories previously published in EC's comic books. This experimental line lost money from the start and only lasted two issues per title. When EC's national distributor went bankrupt, Gaines dropped all of his titles except Mad . Mad sold well throughout the company's troubles, and Gaines focused exclusively on publishing it in magazine form. This move
7371-456: Was issued weekly. Takvim-i vekayi was published a few months later, intended as a translation of the Moniteur into Ottoman Turkish . After having been edited by former Consul for Denmark " M. Franceschi ", and later on by " Hassuna de Ghiez ", it was lastly edited by Lucien Rouet. However, facing the hostility of embassies, it was closed in the 1840s. Satirical magazines of Turkey have
7462-411: Was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being Black ". The story depicted a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, visiting the planet Cybrinia, inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, with one having fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut determines that due to the robots' bigotry,
7553-487: Was off his nut. He was really out to get us", recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. "I went in there with this story and Murphy says, 'It can't be a Black man'. But ... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. "Listen", he told Murphy, "you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business". [Feldstein] reported
7644-470: Was one of France's first journalists. He disseminated the weekly news of music, dance and Parisian society from 1650 until 1665 in verse, in what he called a gazette burlesque , assembled in three volumes of La Muse historique (1650, 1660, 1665). The French press lagged a generation behind the British, for they catered to the needs of the aristocracy, while the newer British counterparts were oriented toward
7735-615: Was packed, and, also in 1906, David Graham Phillips unleashed a blistering indictment of the U.S. Senate. Roosevelt gave these journalists their nickname when he complained that they were not being helpful by raking up all the muck. According to the Research Department of Statista , closures of magazines outnumbered launches in North America during 2009. Although both figures declined during 2010–2015, launches outnumbered closures in each of those years, sometimes by
7826-613: Was published in 1852. Through the use of advice columns, advertisements , and various publications related to parenting , women's magazines have influenced views of motherhood and child-rearing. Mass-marketed women's magazines have shaped and transformed cultural values related to parenting practices. As such, magazines targeting women and parenthood have exerted power and influence over ideas about motherhood and child-rearing. Religious groups have used magazines for spreading and communicating religious doctrine for over 100 years. Jehovah's Witnesses ' primary magazine, The Watchtower ,
7917-493: Was purchased by Kinney National Company , which later purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts and became Warner Communications . The Donenfelds and their "crew" were out, and new management came in. By 1970, Independent News was defunct, absorbed into a larger and changing distribution business. Independent News' last president was Harold Chamberlin, who served from 1968 to 1970. Chamblerin went on to become president of Warner Publishing from 1970 to 1979. As Warner Publishing Services,
8008-454: Was started by Charles Taze Russell in July 1879 under the title Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence . The public edition of the magazine is one of the most widely distributed magazines in the world, with an average printing of approximately 36 million per issue. Magazines publishing stories and photos of high-profile individuals and celebrities have long been a popular format in
8099-456: Was the first general-interest magazine. Edward Cave , who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine", on the analogy of a military storehouse, the quote being: "a monthly collection, to treasure up as in a magazine". Founded by Herbert Ingram in 1842, The Illustrated London News was the first illustrated weekly news magazine. The oldest consumer magazine still in print
8190-493: Was the most prominent editor. His L'Ami du peuple advocated vigorously for the rights of the lower classes against the enemies of the people Marat hated; it closed when he was assassinated. After 1800 Napoleon reimposed strict censorship. Magazines flourished after Napoleon left in 1815. Most were based in Paris and most emphasized literature, poetry and stories. They served religious, cultural and political communities. In times of political crisis they expressed and helped shape
8281-539: Was to reconcile its editor Harvey Kurtzman , who had received an offer to join the magazine Pageant , but preferred to remain in charge of his magazine. The switch also removed Mad from the auspices of the Comics Code . Kurtzman, regardless, left Mad soon afterward when Gaines would not give him 51 percent control of the magazine, and Gaines brought back Al Feldstein as Kurtzman's successor. The magazine enjoyed great success for decades afterward. Gaines sold
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