Humor In A Jugular Vein Day!

Harvey Kurtzman was born on this date in 1924. Kurtzman was a journeyman artist for much of the Golden Age of comics, learning his craft and looking for an outlet for his wacky imagination. He finally found his footing with EC Comics where he co-created MAD. He also produced some powerful images in titles such as Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales. Kurtzman left MAD and tried to recreate that success with other titles such as TRUMP, HUMBUG and HELP! but despite some high quality failed to find the sales success. Along with Will Elder he co-created Little Annie Fanny and produced that feature for Playboy magazine for many years.  

When Harvey Kurtzman talked William Gaines Jr. into publishing a little humor comic, they changed the landscape of comedy in America. MAD became the template for comedy going forward and bred a host of imitations.  Here are some of those four-color dopplegangers.

EC even imitated MAD itself when they published PANIC, a magazine of humor by EC's other mainstay editor, Al Fiedstein.

Then in an attempt to placate censors and Kurtzman himself, Gaines decided to make the comic book a magazine. With the four colors gone, the increased size made MAD a publication alongside others targeted to an older reader. But the success of that change too sparked imitations, among them magazines by Kurtzman himself for other publishers.

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Captain Klutz Day!

Don Martin was born on yesterday's date in 1931. Martin was a key member of the "Usual Gang of Idiots", the talents who delivered MAD Magazine for decades. Like many others I'm sure, Martin is my favorite MAD talent. Martin fell out with MAD and switched over to CRACKED Magazine in 1987, immediately raising the level of that rag. 

When folks think of the classic MAD, they might almost immediately think of Don Martin. Martin's people look like no one you've ever seen and yet he successfully in his abstraction captures that every man which nestles in the heart of us all. When his characters act stupidly it is a stupidity we can sadly likely identify with. The Don Martin gags were always the first thing I checked out in a new issue of MAD, scampering through the pages to find the two or more likely three installments. After that it was time other things, but it was always Martin first. When Don Martin left MAD for places, for a time at Cracked and later with his own short-lived magazine, he was always instantly recognizable. Martin seemed to have some fine success in the paperback arena, and one regret I definitely have is that over the many years I've read and collected comics and such, I never made much of a point of chasing the MAD paperbacks, especially the Don Martin collections. Captain Klutz needs a new edition especially.

Some years ago they published all of Martin's MAD cartoons in two super-size volumes and I was lucky to stumble across it for relatively small money. The slip-covered collection a treasure and now that I think of it, one I haven't examined in far too long. Maybe when I finish this post, I'll dig it out for a few laughs. Don Martin was always good for that.

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The MAD Readers Ride Again!

The Mad Reader is one of those truly important books. EC Comics made a big splash in the heyday of comics, both critically and financially. So much so, that the furor around them eventually caused them to disappear from the comic racks. But MAD survived, and in fact thrived for decades after becoming a cultural touchstone for millions of kids trying to find a way to interpret adult society. Soon after its sales success in the early 50's, Ballantine Books stepped forward to bring the distinctive humor brand to a broader audience in the first paperback comic book reprint, The Mad Reader. The Mad Reader, first published in 1954 went through many editions and spawned many subsequent collections. It was the perfect fusion of the wildness of MAD with the surge of paperbacks which came to dominate book sales in the decade. 

Some years ago, IBooks under the direction of the late Byron Preiss returned these vintage classics to the market in handsome and faithful reproductions. As you can see, the leering mug of Alfred P. Neuman guarantees MAD-level quality. In point of fact, this was the first time that Alfred's famous puss ever graced a MAD publication, but as we all know it be far from the last. IBooks went on quickly to publish other of the 50's MAD paperbacks. There are later volumes in this esteemed series, but these five from Ballantine Books (MAD moved to Signet with the sixth volume) are the core upon which the long MAD paperback tradition lives. It's exceedingly neat to have most of these clever reproductions in my sweaty mitts. I've seen and read many of the stories in more lustrous volumes, yet the crazy way they are presented in these volumes makes them oddly fresh. 

IBooks made reprints of all the volumes above which originally were published from 1954 to 1961.  (I think I have the order right, but please correct me if I got it wrong.) MAD was in its heyday and seemed indestructible until it fell on hard times in recent years following the demise of the publisher Bill Gaines. There is sure no shortage of MAD paperbacks out there, ninety -three to be exact. Check out this link to the MAD Museum to get a look at the ones IBooks never got a chance reprint. 

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