Mad THE COMIC BOOK Text Extras!

I'll be working on some projects today, so to make up for some missed "Mad Monday"s and to keep this blog updating, here's some fillers from issues we've covered thus far.

Remember, back in the day comics publishers knew that they would get a cheaper mailing rate for their books by adding 2 pages of text to every "funny picture story book" they published,  The USPS granted them magazine status when this was done and got a lower periodical rate by doing so.  Eventually comics used "letters" pages and things like "Stan Lee's Soap Box", "Bullpen Bulletins", "DC Direct Currents" and the like to take care of this, but wayyyyyyyyy back in the mid-fifties, the thought was just to do some text features.

Here's the pages from Mad #1.  I'm sure the text was hammered out by Harvey Kurtzman, but I'm not sure and too lazy to look it up. :P

"Crow Vadis?" and "The 'EC' Artist of the Issue - Harvey Kurtzman"!

Another humor piece, this one from Mad #2, "Calling Cosmo McMoon"!

Certainly my favorite from this batch of extras, "The EC Publisher of the Issue - William M. Gaines (alias Melvin)"!  A comic book classic, a comic book icon.

From issue #4, it seems Harvey was really getting his legs.  Here's a resurrection of the character Cosmo McMoon answering some reader's letters.  Years before Alfred E. Newman, Kurtzman had an idea for a persona to associate with the comic.  Melvin is another from those early issues.  Great to see and watch the development.

Also from #4, "The Parole"!!!

A very funny and innovatively formatted humor piece, "Exam"! from Mad #5.

More of these to come!

Talk to you soon!