Mainline Publications
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Mainline Publications, also called Mainline Comics, was a short-lived, 1950s
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
publisher established and owned by
Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...
and
Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...
.


Foundation

With the 1950s backlash against comics, led by the psychiatrist
Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue ...
, and propagated during the televised debates about comics leading to
juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...
, as part of the
Kefauver hearings The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was a special committee of the United States Senate which existed from 1950 to 1951 and which investigated organized crime which crossed state borders in the Un ...
, several publishing houses folded. This caused a problem for the printers. As
Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...
detailed, "Comic book publishers were dropping out of the business in wholesale numbers. The printers grew frantic. It was a necessity of their business that the presses keep running. When the presses were silent, printing companies still had to pay overhead, so they were more than willing to back a new comics organization if it showed promise." Reissued (Vanguard Productions, 2003) . Page numbers refer to 1990 edition. To serve as business manager for their Mainline Publications, Inc., they brought in
Crestwood Publications Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title ''Prize Comics'' contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book fea ...
office manager Nevin Fidler, who knew the mechanics of distributors and other necessary vendors, offering him a piece of the company. While keeping their hand in at Crestwood to fulfill their contract, Simon and Kirby invested their savings in their new company, working with veteran paper and printing broker George Dougherty, Jr.Beerbohm, Robert Lee
"The Mainline Story"
''Jack Kirby Collector'' #25, August 1999. Accessed March 26, 2008

The two had long wanted to self-publish, and they further wished to create comics for the adults of the 1950s who had read comics as children in the 1940s. As Simon recalled, They set up shop in late 1953 or early 1954, subletting space from their friend Al Harvey's
Harvey Publications Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...
at 1860
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
. Mainline published four titles: the
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
''Bullseye: Western Scout''; the
war comic War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
''Foxhole'', since
EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...
and Atlas Comics were having success with war comics, but Mainline's was promoted as being "written and drawn by actual veterans"; ''In Love'', as their earlier
romance comic Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...
'' Young Love'' was still being widely imitated; and the crime comic ''Police Trap'', which claimed to be based on genuine accounts by law-enforcement officials.


Controversy

Despite Mainline's dissimilarity to the beleaguered EC and other companies then under constant attack, copies of ''Bullseye'' and ''Foxhole'' were reportedly used as exhibits by Wertham in the Senate hearings against comics, and seen by millions through the hearings' nationwide television coverage. In an attempt to save on the cost of original artwork for a story in Crestwood's '' Young Love'', Simon recycled an earlier Crestwood story by providing a new story and title to fit the existing art. This was spotted by a Crestwood employee, and legal advice taken over possible repercussions. Crestwood "took up the matter with their attorney hoinformed Crestwood that there was nothing in the contract that specified what kind of book we were obliged to turn in — as long as we turned in a book on schedule. That didn't satisfy the publishers, who naturally turned more hostile. They continued to hold off paying us while we grew increasingly desperate." In response, Simon and Kirby arranged in November 1954 to audit Crestwood, leading to a meeting between, on one side, Simon, Kirby, their accountant Bernard Gwirtzman and the attorney Gwirtzman chose, Morris Eisenstein; and on the other Crestwood publishers Teddy Epstein and Paul Bleier as well as general manager M. R. Reese. Eisenstein demanded monies owed his clients by "Crestwood, Feature Publications, and Headline Publications, among others," entailing "advances, royalties, and other monies for ''Fighting American'', ''Young Brides'', ''Black Magic'', ''Young Love'', and ''Young Romance''." Epstein countered that all monies had been paid, and no royalties withheld, so Gwirtzman clarified that the claimed funds derived largely from overseas sales, and that over the previous seven years the total was around $130,000. Crestwood's attorney responded that the company could not pay that much, and, were it to go to court, "would simply close down." Offered a $10,000 settlement and the recently delayed payments, Simon and Kirby returned to working on Mainline, but under increasingly strained circumstances. Even the Simon/Kirby relationship was now fraught, the two "barely peakingwhile working in the same room."


Collapse

With the continuing attacks by Wertham, Senator
Estes Kefauver Carey Estes Kefauver (; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 until his d ...
, and others, publishers continued to fold "and the number of comics published dropped from 650 to 250."
Carmine Infantino Carmine Michael Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creat ...
, a friend of Kirby's who worked for National Comics, the future DC Comics, recalled that National publisher
Jack Liebowitz Jacob S. Liebowitz (; born Yacov Lebovitz October 10, 1900 – December 11, 2000)Atlas Comics publisher Martin Goodman, "and the people from Archie /nowiki>MLJ_Comics.html" ;"title="MLJ_Comics.html" ;"title="/nowiki>MLJ Comics">/nowiki>MLJ Comics">MLJ_Comics.html" ;"title="/nowiki>MLJ Comics">/nowiki>MLJ Comics/nowiki>, got together and created the Comics Code, which promised parents they would have no more blood and stuff like that." The advent of the Code effectively gutted
EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...
and threatened the comics industry generally. Distributor Leader News "no longer had enough money to advance to small companies like Mainline", and with its implosion brought about the end of Simon and Kirby's company in late 1956. The unpublished materials for Mainline's titles were sold to
Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...
, which published them and, in some cases, continued the titles under new names. With the demise of Mainline, the longstanding partnership between Simon and Kirby also ended, although they would collaborate on a few more comics. Simon left comics for a time to take up a role in advertising, and Kirby returned to National Comics, taking with him, with Simon's blessing, "the final project of the Simon & Kirby team", ''
Challengers of the Unknown The Challengers of the Unknown is a fictional group of adventurers appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The quartet of adventurers explored paranormal occurrences while facing several fantastic menaces. The characters' provenance is ...
'', co-created with writers Dick and Dave Wood. The non-superpowered adventuring quartet appeared in National's ''
Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...
'' #6 (Feb. 1957) and eventually in its own series.


Titles

Mainline published four titles:Mainline
at the
Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...
* ''Bullseye: Western Scout''  (
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
), #1-5.
Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...
published #6-7 * ''Foxhole''  (
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
), #1-4. Charlton Comics published #5-7 * ''In Love''  (
romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
), #1-4. Charlton Comics published #5-6, then renamed it '' I Love You'' * ''Police Trap''  (
crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
), #1-4. Charlton Comics published #5-6


References

{{Authority control Publishing companies established in 1953 Horror comics Comic book publishing companies of the United States Defunct comics and manga publishing companies