Picture Stories from World History) are launched under a new publishing venture in 1946 under the name of EC. Although the EC initials stood for both Educational Comics and Entertaining Comics, it has been speculated that the initials were also a tribute to the first comic book company Gaines worked for, Eastern Color [Printing]. (In 1947, Max Gaines dies in a boating accident, and EC is taken over by his son William M. Gaines, who focused production on crime, horror and science fiction. EC was a primary target for Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent, and the focus of the senate hearing that followed; the end result was that eventually EC cancelled all of its publications except for Mad.) 1936 - December Eastern publishes the first issue of The John Hix Scrapbook, reprinting McClure's syndicated strip Strange as It Seems, a Ripley’s Believe It or Not-style collection of illustrated cartoons describing odd historical facts and scientific phenomena. In 1937, Eastern releases a second volume under the name The Second Strange as It Seems Scrapbook. 1937 - July Having filled up the maximum floor space at their old American press-room at Printers Court, Eastern constructs a separate and new plant on Commercial Street. The new plant includes two new Scott presses. 1940s In addition to publishing its own comic books, Eastern continues to do printing for the majority of publishers in the comic book industry. An article in the Hartford Courant dated Feb. 15, 1954 states that “An executive of one of the largest comic book printing firms in the nation, located in Waterbury, Conn. said 65,000,000 issues are printed each month. Of these 65 million issues, more than 40 per cent are printed in Connecticut.” Eastern Color Printing prints comics and advertising for other publishers through the 1960s, including comic books for Timely (Marvel), EC, and Big Boy Restaurants. Eastern also printed the Sunday funnies for a number of newspapers, including the Waterbury Sunday Republican, the New Haven Register, the Hartford Courant, and newspapers in Boston, Providence, and Worcester. 1940 Eastern introduces its second monthly title, Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics. The title is the official publication of Reg’lar Fellers of America, a junior athletic organization dedicated to developing wholesome summer recreation for teens. The title lasts until 1955; it eventually shortens its title to simply Heroic Comics beginning with issue #16 and changes again with issue #41 to New Heroic