Editing William Gaines (section)

==Early life==
Gaines was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City|New York]], to a [[Jewish]] household.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://13thdimension.com/the-13-most-influential-jewish-creators-and-execs-part-3 |title=The 13 Most Influential Jewish Creators and Execs, PART 3 |first=Arlen |last=Schumer |date=September 21, 2015 |publisher=13th Dimension}}</ref> His father was [[Max Gaines]], who as publisher of the All-American Comics division of [[DC Comics]] was also an influential figure in the history of comics. The elder Gaines tested the idea of packaging and selling comics on newsstands in 1933, and Gaines accepted [[William Moulton Marston]]'s proposal in 1941 for the first successful female superhero, [[Wonder Woman]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lepore |first1=Jill |title=The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=14 August 2020 |language=en |date=October 2014}}</ref>

As [[World War II]] began, Gaines was rejected by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]], the [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]] and the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]], so he went to his local [[draft board]] and requested to be drafted.<ref name="memorialmatters">[https://www.memorialmatters.com/memorial-print.php?page=William-Gaines In Remembrance of William Maxwell Gaines] www.memorialmatters.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.</ref> He trained as an [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Corps]] photographer at [[Lowry Air Force Base|Lowry Field]] in Denver.<ref name="memorialmatters"/><ref name="encyclopediacom">[https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gaines-william-maxwell Gaines, William Maxwell] [[Encyclopedia.com]]. Retrieved February 26, 2022.</ref><ref name="britannica">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Maxwell-Gaines William Maxwell Gaines, American publisher] [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Retrieved February 26, 2022.</ref> However, when he was assigned to an [[Oklahoma City]] field without a photographic facility, he wound up on permanent [[KP duty]].<ref name="memorialmatters"/> As he explained in 1976 to Bill Craig of ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]]'', "Being an eater, this assignment was a real pleasure for me. There were four of us, and we always found all the choice bits the cooks had hidden away. We'd be frying up [[filet mignon]] and [[Steak#Ham steak|ham steaks]] every night. The hours were great, too. I think it was eight hours on and 40 off."<ref name="memorialmatters"/> Stationed at [[Beauregard Regional Airport|DeRidder Army Airfield]] in Louisiana, he was reassigned to [[Marshall Army Airfield|Marshall Airfield]] in Kansas and then to [[Governors Island]], New York. Leaving the service in 1946, he returned home to complete his chemistry studies at [[New York University Tandon School of Engineering|Brooklyn Polytechnic]], but soon transferred to [[New York University]], intent on obtaining a [[Certified teacher|teaching certificate]].<ref name="memorialmatters"/> In 1947, he was in his senior year at NYU when his father was killed in a motorboat accident on [[Lake Placid (New York)|Lake Placid]]. Instead of becoming a chemistry teacher, he took over the family business, [[EC Comics]].<ref name="memorialmatters"/><ref name="britannica"/>