Panic (comic)
Encyclopedia
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
line during the early 1950s. The bi-monthly humor comic, published by Bill Gaines as a companion to Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic...
's Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
. Panic was edited by Al Feldstein
Al Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
(who became the editor of Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
a few years later). Beginning with its first issue (February–March 1954), Panic had a 12-issue run for two years. The last in the series was dated December 1955/January 1956.
Feldstein was the cover artist, with Jack Davis
Jack Davis (cartoonist)
Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...
cartooning the cover for the final issue. Stories were illustrated by Davis, Will Elder
Will Elder
William Elder was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art, but is best known for a zany cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952....
, Jack Kamen
Jack Kamen
Jack Kamen was an illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty...
, Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
, Basil Wolverton
Basil Wolverton
Basil Wolverton was an American cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer-artist and professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", whose many publishers included Marvel Comics and Mad.His unique, humorously grotesque drawings have elicited a...
and Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
.
The publication was controversial, as detailed by Steve Stiles in his article,"It's a Panic!":
- What Panic also earned was a storm of indignation that burst over Gaines' head with the very first issue, and all over the holiday of "Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men." It's strange that Gaines didn't see it coming, but some people got very annoyed with a satire of "The Night Before Christmas." To put it mildly.
Some aspects of Panics negative Santa depiction resurfaced a half-century later in Terry Zwigoff
Terry Zwigoff
Terry Zwigoff is an American filmmaker whose work often deals with misfits, antiheros, and themes of alienation. His fiction films are the features Ghost World , Bad Santa , and Art School Confidential...
's Bad Santa
Bad Santa
Bad Santa is a 2003 American screwball black comedy film directed and co-written by Terry Zwigoff, produced by the Coen brothers, and starring Billy Bob Thornton as the title character and Tony Cox as his partner in crime. Actors Bernie Mac and John Ritter co-star...
(2003).
EC called Panic the "only authorized imitation of Mad." Some story ideas were by Nick Meglin
Nick Meglin
Nick Meglin was a member of MAD Magazine's editorial staff for almost half a century. His progress can be observed by studying the magazine's masthead, which moved him from "Ideas" to "War Correspondent" to "Editorial Associate" to "Associate Editor" to "Editor," a position which he held for 20...
, later the editor of Mad. Scripts were by Feldstein, Elder and Jack Mendelsohn
Jack Mendelsohn
Jack Mendelsohn is a writer-artist who has worked in animation, comic strips and comic books. An Emmy-nominated television comedy writer and story editor, he has numerous credits as a TV scripter, including Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Three's Company, The Carol Burnett Show and Teenage Mutant Ninja...
, later a co-screenwriter of Yellow Submarine (1968) and an Emmy-nominated TV comedy writer.
Reprints
Panic has been reprinted by publisher Russ CochranRuss Cochran (publisher)
Russ Cochran is a publisher of EC Comics reprints, Disney comics and books on Hopalong Cassidy, Chet Atkins, Les Paul and vacuum tubes. He has been a publisher for over 30 years, after quitting his job as a physics professor....
several times. In 1985, it formed part of his Complete EC Library , published (in black and white) as a slipcased hardcover two-volume set. Panic was also reprinted issue-by-issue between March 1997 and December 1999 by Cochran (in association with Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
). This complete run was later rebound, with covers included, in three softcover EC Annuals.
Issue guide
| # | Date | Cover Artist | Story | Story Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February/March 1954 | Al Feldstein | My Gun Is the Jury! | Jack Davis |
| This Is Your Strife | Joe Orlando | |||
| Little Red Riding Hood | Jack Kamen | |||
| The Night Before Christmas | Bill Elder | |||
| 2 | April/May 1954 | Al Feldstein | African Scream! | Wally Wood |
| The Lady or the Tiger? | Bill Elder | |||
| Breakfast with the Fershlugginers | Joe Orlando | |||
| Come Back, Little Street Car! | Jack Davis | |||
| 3 | June/July 1954 | Al Feldstein | Li'l Melvin | Bill Elder |
| The Quite-a-Man! | Wally Wood | |||
| Mother Goon’s Nertzery Rhymes | Joe Orlando | |||
| Strike It Richly! | Jack Davis | |||
| 4 | August/September 1954 | Basil Wolverton | Smiddy | Bill Elder |
| Hindu | Wally Wood | |||
| Just Plain Bull | Joe Orlando | |||
| I Touched a Flying Saucer! | Jack Davis | |||
| 5 | October/November 1954 | Al Feldstein | Tick Dracy | Bill Elder |
| Panic's Dictionary of Sports | Jack Davis | |||
| Spots Before Your Eyes! | Joe Orlando | |||
| You Too Can Hook a Zillionaire! | Wally Wood | |||
| 6 | December/January 1955 | The Phansom | Bill Elder | |
| Executive Seat | Wally Wood | |||
| Comic Strip Advertising | Joe Orlando | |||
| Popular Mecpanics Magazine | Jack Davis | |||
| 7 | February/March 1955 | Mel Padooka | Bill Elder | |
| You Axed for it! | Jack Davis | |||
| Travel Posters | Joe Orlando | |||
| Them There Those | Wally Wood | |||
| 8 | April/May 1955 | Irving Oops | Bill Elder | |
| Carmen | Joe Orlando | |||
| Panic Peeks into Some Old Under Paints | Jack Davis | |||
| Gone with the Widow | Wally Wood | |||
| 9 | June/July 1955 | Rx Migrane M.D. | Bill Elder | |
| Drive In Movie! | Jack Davis | |||
| Zoo Charade | Joe Orlando | |||
| Bo Bummel, or Much Ado About Clothing | Wally Wood | |||
| 10 | August/September 1955 | Captain Izzy and Washt Upps | Bill Elder | |
| A Star is Corn | Jack Davis | |||
| Punch Lines | Bill Elder | |||
| Foreign Movies | Jack Davis | |||
| 11 | October/November 1955 | Mary Worthless! | Bill Elder | |
| Shaggy Dog Stories! | Jack Davis | |||
| Sunday at the Beach! | Bill Elder | |||
| 20,000 Leaks Under the Sea | Wally Wood | |||
| 12 | December/January 1956 | Jack Davis | Charlie Chinless | Bill Elder |
| House Hunting! | Jack Davis | |||
| The Heartaches of Joliet’s Groans! | Bill Elder | |||
| ’S a Tragic Air Command | Wally Wood | |||