This is probably the most infamous EC cover ever produced, and it led indirectly to the end of the line. This Johnny Craig CRIME SUSPENSTORIES cover was brought out as evidence during publisher Bill Gaines’ testimony before the Senate Committee investigating the link between comic books and juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. When asked if he thought the cover was in good taste, Gaines famously replied, “I do–for the cover of a horror magazine.” Gaines didn’t reveal that elements of the art had been softened before it went to print, including extending the woman’s neck so it wasn’t clearly a severed head. But none of that mattered–Gaines’ televised testimony whipped up a storm of parental opposition to his magazines, and it was the end of EC Comics.
