Panic

    (E.C., 1954-1956)
™ and © William M. Gaines, Agent

In 1954, the censors were closing in on William M. Gaines and EC Comics. In an effort to diversify their line of horror and crime comics, EC launched Panic, a companion to their successful Mad humor comic. Like EC itself, Panic was best when it pushed the limits of good taste, such as when the cover to the first issue showed a boy planting a bear trap at the foot of the chimney for Santa to trigger; or issue #3’s parody of the Senate subcommittee which was investigating comics at the time.

Panic’s humor consisted mostly of “wacky spoofs” on popular culture and comics, but without the certain flair that Mad possessed. Having drawn the wrath of the censors, but not the overwhelming support of the readers, it was cancelled after just a dozen issues in late 1955. Its last issue is now somewhat scarce since so many were destroyed.
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