THE MAD HORROR PRIMER

Spoofing children's "primers" is MAD'S version from issue #49 (September 1959), "My First Scary Reader", written by Larry Siegel and illustrated quite nicely by Wallace Wood.

BASIL WOLVERTON: MASTER OF THE GROTESQUE (PART 1)

Basil Wolverton was an extremely talented cartoonist, but when he looked through the artist's version of a fun house mirror, his characters became some of the most unique -- and uniquely grotesque -- in comics history. He described himself as a "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", and THE NEW YORK TIMES went even further by calling him "the Michelangelo of MAD magazine". His "spaghetti and meatball school of design" -- coined by the editors of LIFE magazine -- has few comparisons, and along with EC Comics and early animated cartoons, his work was the inspiration for many underground cartoonists, including one of the greatest, Robert Crumb. SoCal car customizer and cult cartoonist phenom Ed "Big" Daddy Roth also named him as an influence. Wolverton gained national fame when his "Lena the Hyena" interpretation won a contest and ended up on a MAD magazine cover parody of LIFE (#11, May 1954), as well as several appearances in DC's humor comic, PLOP.

A young Basil Wolverton hamming it up in a photo booth.

An early Wolverton cartoon.

Lena the Hyena of Lower Slobbovia was originally an idea by Al Capp dreamed up in 1946 for his newspaper strip LI'L ABNER. Instead of revealing her face (which would supposedly drive people insane), he asked fans of the strip to send in their ideas as a contest, the winner who would receive the princely sum of $525. The judges were Salvador Dali, Frank Sinatra and Boris Karloff (!). The response from readers was overwhelming and it has been said that there were over 500,000 entries, Wolverton accounting for seven of them. Other contestants were Carl "Uncle Scrooge" Barks and Jack "Plastic Man" Cole.

MAD magazine #11 (May 1954).

On 21 October 1946 the winner was announced and Wolverton's hideous visage was printed in LIFE and newspapers across the country, insuring his celebrity status -- at least for a short time -- as well as a place in popular culture.

PLOP #1 (October 1973).

What? Don't worry -- Spacehawk, Powerhouse Pepper and more Wolverton to come!

See more Wolverton posts HERE.

The "Lena the Hyena" segment of Al Capp's LI'L ABNER:

Basil Wolverton's interior work MAD #11:

TIME TO STOP AND THIMK!

While on the subject of MAD magazine and Alfred E. Neuman I remembered this obscure humor publication from the 1950's that appears to have a small but cult-ish following among monster fans (all will be revealed later). But first, a little context.

MAD #4 (April/May 1953) by Kurtzman and Wood.

When MAD first hit the stands it lost money. Nevertheless, sometimes fortune also favors the foolish, and with a parody in issue #4 (April/May 1953) of the popular Man of Steel ("Superduperman") it was suddenly a surprise hit and one that Bill Gaines and his merry men had the collective genius to finally pull off, thanks in large part to the leadership (and wit) of the brilliant Harvey Kurtzman. Despite its large print-run and circulation many cite MAD as being the first underground comic book. Word got around and soon there were other imitators springing up like mushrooms with titles like NUTS, WHACK!, UNSANE and BUGHOUSE.

Then the Comics Code Authority reared its ugly head and Gaines, not wanting his new-born baby to go out with the bathwater, took a chance -- just in case -- and turned MAD into a full-sized, slick magazine, a format the Code couldn't touch. Gaines knew he had something when the staff payed a visit to the printer in Brooklyn and saw that even the operators reading it right off the press were roaring with laughter. Word got around and soon there were other imitators springing up like mushrooms with titles like TRUMP (published by Hugh Hefner and edited by Kurtzman when he left MAD after giving Gaines an unreasonable financial ultimatum, and poaching, among others, Jack Davis and Will Elder), HUMBUG (creator-financed and published by Kurtzman) and HELP! (published by Warren and edited by Kurtzman).

Satire (1936), Laff (1947), Picture Fun (1951), Grin (1957).

In 1958, Counterpoint Inc., a New York-based publisher headed by one Adrian Lopez threw its dunce cap in the ring with their own humor magazine. Born in 1906 in England of Spanish and Irish ancestry, Lopez had already published numerous humor magazines over the years beginning as far back as the 1930's. Known as a "niche publisher" he put out a wide variety of titles, including men's adventure magazines like MR., SIR!, JUMBO MAN'S MAGAZINE and SOUTH SEA STORIES (not to be confused with the Ziff-Davis pulp magazine of the same name). These 'zines relied on some pretty wild titles emblazoned on their covers: "Why Homos Hate Elvis", "The Woman Who Ate Her Lovers Alive", "Human Studs in Arabia", and "Isles of Lonely Women" just to name a few.

The first issue of THIMK hit the stands with a cover date of May 1958. The zany title is possibly a reference to the slogan coined by sales and ad manager Thomas J. Watson of the National Cash Register Company in 1911. During a meeting he decided to give the sales force a little jolt by saying, "We don't get paid for working with our feet — we get paid for working with our heads". He then wrote the single word "THINK" on an easel. A few years later he brought his slogan with him to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company which later became IBM. It's more likely, however, that the title THIMK was a riff on MAD #23 (May 1955) that had just the word "THINK" under the cover title (which probably was a reference to Watson's slogan!). In their fourth issue they took a straight poke at MAD which I'm sure didn't please Gaines much.

MAD #23 (May 1955)

THIMK's editor was Allan Whitney who worked for DC in the 1930's and after his stint with THIMK went on to become a prominent New York newspaperman. The writers and artists went uncredited until the fourth issue. Avon/Fox/Fiction House comic book artist Alvin Hollingsworth's name shows up as "Holly" a few times. Sam Hayle provided covers and interiors and also worked for other humor 'zines such as FRENZY, JACKPOT and CRACKED. Writer and artist A.E. "Al" Sargent contributes here and there. Sargent also produced work for Pocket Magazine's TV GIRLS AND GAGS and Marvel's GEE-WHIZ! in the 1950's. Other writers were Good Old Bob Drews, Paul Laikin and Bob Wood. Other artists listed were Don Douglas, Martin Friedman, Bill Riley, Bob Wood and Syd Shores (!). In any event, it's likely that Whitney and publisher Lopez had a sizable talent pool of cartoonists and gag writers to draw on (pun intended?) from Counterpoint's other long string of humor books.

Some have written that THIMK was written for younger kids, but I find the humor leans more towards adults. Overall, it's obvious that it was clearly intended as a MAD clone in many ways. The art and design is more reminiscent of the pocket humor mag era that was on the eclipse, while MAD was producing a slick, sophisticated and dare I say more relevant publication that was pretty much light years beyond anyone else. Still, there's a bit of pretty decent stuff to be seen in the six issues of THIMK, which ran for exactly a year. Along with many other competitors, it was the idiots at MAD that had the last laugh.

Thimk I'm done with this topic? Thimk again! Check back tomorrow for more humerous thotz.