Editing EC Comics (section)

=== "Judgment Day" ===
[[File:EC Judgementday.jpg|thumb|right|"Judgment Day" was first published in ''[[Weird Fantasy]]'' #18 (April 1953).]]
Gaines waged several battles with the Comics Code Authority to keep his magazines free from censorship. In one particular example noted by comics historian Digby Diehl, Gaines threatened Judge Charles Murphy, the Comics Code Administrator, with a lawsuit when Murphy ordered EC to alter the science-fiction story "Judgment Day", in ''[[Incredible Science Fiction]]'' #33 (February 1956).<ref name="SS1">{{cite web| last=Lundin|first=Leigh| title=The Mystery of Superheroes| url=http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2011/10/mystery-of-superheroes.html |publisher=SleuthSayers.org| location=[[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]] |date=October 16, 2011}}</ref> The story, by the writer [[Al Feldstein]] and artist [[Joe Orlando]], was a reprint from the pre-Code ''[[Weird Fantasy]]'' #18 (April 1953), inserted when the Code Authority had rejected an initial, original story, "An Eye for an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres, but was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being [[Black people|Black]]".<ref name="Newfangles">[[Maggie Thompson|Thompson, Don & Maggie]], "Crack in the Code", ''Newfangles'' #44, February 1971.</ref>

The story depicted a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, visiting the planet Cybrinia, inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, with one having fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut determines that due to the robots' bigotry, the Galactic Republic should not admit the planet until these problems are resolved. In the final panel, he removes his helmet, revealing he is a Black man.<ref name="SS1" /> Murphy demanded, without any authority in the Code, that the Black astronaut had to be removed.{{fact|date=July 2022}}

As Diehl recounted in ''Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives'':

{{blockquote|text=This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. "Judge Murphy was off his nut. He was really out to get us", recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. "I went in there with this story and Murphy says, 'It can't be a Black<!--capitalized per AP Stylebook, which Wikipedia recommends using--> man'. But ... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. "Listen", he told Murphy, "you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business". [Feldstein] reported the results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. "This is ridiculous!" he bellowed. "I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you". Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat". At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. "Fuck you!" they shouted into the telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form.{{sfn|Diehl|1996|p=95}} }}

Feldstein, interviewed for the book ''Tales of Terror: The EC Companion'', reiterated his recollection of Murphy making the request:
{{blockquote|text=So he said it can't be a Black [person]. So I said, "For God's sakes, Judge Murphy, that's the whole point of the Goddamn story!" So he said, "No, it can't be a Black". Bill [Gaines] just called him up [later] and raised the roof, and finally they said, "Well, you gotta take the perspiration off". I had the stars glistening in the perspiration on his Black skin. Bill said, "Fuck you", and he hung up.{{sfn|Von Bernewitz|Geissman|2000|p=88}} }}