Editing William Gaines (section)

===Senate Subcommittee investigation===
With the publication of Dr. [[Fredric Wertham]]'s ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'', comic books like those that Gaines published attracted the attention of the U.S. Congress. In 1954, Gaines testified before the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency|Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency]].<ref>Kihss, Peter. "No Harm in Horror, Comics Issuer Says". ''New York Times'', April 22, 1954, p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nyberg|first1=Amy|title=Seal of Approval: The Origins and History of Code, Volume 1|date=February 1, 1998|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=0-87805-974-1|pages=61–63|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGDschFUKRQC&pg=PA61|access-date=9 November 2016}}</ref> In the following exchanges, he is addressed first by Chief Counsel Herbert Beaser, and then by Senator [[Estes Kefauver]]:

{{dialogue
|Beaser=Beaser
|Gaines=Gaines
|Kefauver=Kefauver

|Beaser|Is the sole test of what you would put into your magazine whether it sells? Is there any limit you can think of that you would not put in a magazine because you thought a child should not see or read about it?
|Gaines|No, I wouldn't say that there is any limit for the reason you outlined. My only limits are the bounds of good taste, what I consider good taste.
|Beaser|Then you think a child cannot in any way, in any way, shape, or manner, be hurt by anything that a child reads or sees?
|Gaines|I don't believe so.
|Beaser|There would be no limit actually to what you put in the magazines?
|Gaines|Only within the bounds of good taste.
|Beaser|Your own good taste and saleability?
|Gaines|Yes.
}}

{{dialogue
|Kefauver|Here is your May 22 issue [''[[Crime SuspenStories]]'' No. 22, [[cover date]] May]. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman's head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that is in good taste?
|Gaines|Yes sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that the neck could be seen dripping blood from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody.
|Kefauver|You have blood coming out of her mouth.
|Gaines|A little.
|Kefauver|Here is blood on the axe. I think most adults are shocked by that.
}}