hype, the concept proved to be a major step for EC, providing Gaines and Feldstein with a forum for expressing their views on the human condition just as Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat were for Harvey Kurtzman. The Shock SuspenStory was characterized by a running theme of mob violence and an art style best described as Heightened Realism. A similarity can be noted between Wood's dramatically effective Shock renderings and the caricatures of corruption in the acclaimed fine art of Jack Levine. Over the next three years Shock SuspenStories tackled many controversial issues, including racism ("The Guilty" in #3, "In Gratitude" in #11), mob hysteria ("The Patriots" in #2), police corruption ("Confession" in #4), vigilantism ("Under Cover" in #6), drug addiction ("The Monkey" in #12) and rape ("The Assault" in #8, "A Kind of Justice" in #16). The sampler format remained for the remaining three stories in the title until the end of 1953. With #12, the horror and science fiction stories were phased out, and the comic then focused primarily on shock and crime stories for the remainder of its run. Influences and adaptations As with the other EC comics edited by Feldstein, the stories in this comic were primarily based on Gaines reading a large number of suspense stories and using them to develop "springboards" from which he and Feldstein could launch new stories. Specific story influences that have been identified include the following: "Just Desserts!" (issue 3) - Ray Bradbury's "The Smiling People" "Dead Right!" (issue 6) - John Collier's "In the Cards!" "Under Cover!" (issue 6) - Roald Dahl's "Beware of the Dog" "Seep No More!" (issue 8) - Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" "Fall Guy" (issue 12) - Maurice Level's "The Debt Collector" "You, Murderer" (issue 14) - Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Anecdotes from Bennett Cerf's Try and Stop Me were sources for stories, including "Yellow" (issue 1) and "The Patriots" (issue 2). After their unauthorized adaptation of one of Ray Bradbury's stories in another magazine, Bradbury contacted EC about their plagiarism of his work. They reached an agreement for EC to do authorized versions of Bradbury's short fiction. These official adaptations include: "The Small Assassin" (issue 7) "The October Game" (issue 9) Controversies and demise Issue #14 contained two of the title's most controversial stories, "The Orphan", which featured a ten-year-old girl murdering her father and framing her mother, and