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| I notice Max the Magician is by Howie Post. Ever since I watched a documentary on Wertham's decency in comics fear mongering, whenever I see Post's name, I can't help but think of his reaction to Max Gaines' testimonial in front of Congress. Gaines couldn't sleep the night before, so he took diet pills to try to get through it and Post was quoted as calling him an idiot, because he believed he actually made things worse. We'll never know for sure if that's true (it may well be it would have got worse whatever anyone did), but I have to hand it to him that he tried (maybe he didn't have a choice, he might have been subpoenaed). And I believe it was the same Senator Joseph McCarthy who flamed the communist paranoia who was involved in the comics paranoia too. I seem to recall Max Gaines had a mustache, so I wonder if Max the Magician is meant to be a spoof of him. |
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| I've seen several photos of Max Gaines, and only one on which he had a moustache. And, I think he only had that for a short year or two, when he was reasonably old, and his son, Bill was running the business. And to top it off, his moustache wasn't pencil thin, but rather reasonably full. Furthermore, Gaines was short and somewhat stout, while "Max The Magician" was portrayed as being tall and fairly thin.
[img]https:i.ibb.co/k25nbL7/Max-Gaines-EC-Publisher.jpg[/img]
So it wouldn't have been a caricature of him. Most importantly, Wonderland #4 was issued in April, 1946, 8 years before Max's son Bill testified in those Senate hearings. So, Post couldn't have been spoofing either Gaines in his "Max The Magiciuan strory". However, Post, working out of New York, could potentially have worked for both, before those hearings. had issues with Max Gaines, as he was not such a friendly boss as his son Bill, and drawn a parody of him. But from what I've read and heard, Bill Gaines was well liked by his workers. But "Max The Magician didn't look anything like Max OR Bill Gaines. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | April-May 1946 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: Bi-Monthly |
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| Featuring | Alex in Wonderland |
| Credits | Pencils: Howie Post (signed) | Inks: Howie Post | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Children; Fantasy | Characters: Alex; Macaw; Mary |
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| Synopsis | Blackie uses female lamb Gert to abduct sheep. |
| Featuring | Alex in Wonderland |
| Credits | Script: Howie Post? | Pencils: Howie Post (signed) | Inks: Howie Post (signed) |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Anthropomorphic-funny Animals; Children; Fantasy | Characters: Alex; Macaw; Mary; Blackie; Gert |
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| Synopsis | Nip and Tuck find Aladdin's lamp but the Genie inside proves more trouble than help. |
| Featuring | Nip and Tuck |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Children; Fantasy | Characters: Nip; Tuck; Genie |
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| Comic Story | One Whale of a Time |
| Synopsis | The Boy Pirate and his enemy the evil Captain run afoul of a ravenous whale. |
| Featuring | Boy Pirate |
| Credits | Pencils: Al Fago? | Inks: Al Fago? |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Humor; Children | Characters: Boy Pirate; Evil Captain; Myrtle the Turtle |
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| Text Story | King Cole and the Owl (2 pages) |
| Featuring | Alex in Wonderland |
| Credits | Script: Clem Colbert | Pencils: Howie Post? | Inks: Howie Post? | Letters: Typeset |
| Content | Genre: Anthropomorphic-funny Animals; Children; Fantasy | Characters: Alex; Macaw; King Cole; Wise Old Owl |
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| Comic Story | Miracles in Reverse (7 pages) |
| Synopsis | Sun spots cause Max's magic to work in reverse. |
| Featuring | Max the Magician |
| Credits | Script: Howie Post? | Pencils: Howie Post (signed) | Inks: Howie Post (signed) |
| Content | Genre: Humor | Characters: Max |
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| Notes | House ad for 4 Prize titles. Cover repros are only art. |
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| Synopsis | Ferdy has insomnia but is hired by King Zowie to choose a new royal bed. |
| Featuring | Fantastic Ferdy |
| Credits | Pencils: Marv Levy (signed) | Inks: Marv Levy (signed) |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Fantasy | Characters: Ferdy; King Zowie |
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| Synopsis | The monkeys have a difficult time finding breakfast in the jungle. |
| Featuring | Mopey Monks |
| Credits | Script: Howie Post? | Pencils: Howie Post (signed) | Inks: Howie Post (signed) |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Anthropomorphic-funny Animals |
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| Synopsis | Bunky the great chimpanzee detective deduces (too late) his visitor is a process server. |
| Featuring | Bunky |
| Credits | Script: Frank Little? | Pencils: Frank Little [as F. Little] (signed) | Inks: Frank Little [as F. Little] (signed) |
| Content | Genre: Humor; Anthropomorphic-funny Animals | Characters: Bunky (chimp) |
| Notes | Signed in last panel. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
