"Comic Strip Punchlines" - Unca Jeffy Spontaneous Comics!

A little late today, but STILL under the 5 pm mark that you people call a "work day".

OUR STORY THUS FAR: Jeffy is doing what he calls "Spontaneous Comics".  No layout, no photo-shopping/color/cut&paste/layering, not always a beginning or end, just what's in his head at the moment.

Talk to you soon.

"Periodically Losing Volitility" - Unca Jeffy's Spontaneous Comics!

Sketchbook doodlings and aging ponderings/justifications...

Talk to you soon.

Unca Jeffy's Spontaneous Comics!

Without yammering on and on about what my intentions are here, let's just say "Here's another 'Unca Jeffy Spontaneous Comics' comic.".  More no-slick, non-stick, no frills, no muss, no fuss...stuff that fell out of my brain.

Talk to you soon.

"Pot-Shot Pete" - Harvey Kurtzman - Mad Monday!

Mad THE COMIC BOOK #18, December 1954 and Harvey Kurtzman picks up his own brush once again..."Pot-Shot Pete"!

These are brushed inks to deep and black you could drown in them.  Just hold your breath and try and tread  water...you'll be glad you tried.

Talk to you soon.

The Incomplete History of Mad THE COMIC BOOK!

This is something I probably should have posted early in my postings of Mad THE COMIC BOOK, but here's a little secret...until last Wednesday, I actually didn't have the complete run of the comics...heehee.

Well, now I do (thanks to Amazon) and now the entire story of William Gaines, Harvey Kurtzman and that first usual gang of idiots (Bill Elder, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, John Severin and Basil Wolverton) can be told.  My copies that I've been scanning of all of these comics cornerstones and masterpieces, are not from the original comics, but rather from a magazine that Mad and it's now owner DC Comics put out in the late 90's, and within these 8 issues of genius a companion article was published called "The Incomplete History of Mad Comics" that was written by the legendary Frank Jacobs, called the most prolific writer in Mad MAGAZINE history.  He joined the gang of idiots in 1957, and what better person to write the story of the beginning of modern American History.  

And I don't joke when I say that...I believe that if it weren't for Mad Magazine appearing at the time that it did (and continuously puncturing pomposity till today) what we now know as comedy in movies, music, comics and TV would be a very different, much less irreverent, and much more tame brand of larfs.

dig in kiddoes...time to learn something.

There's still plenty more Mad Mondays to come, still 5 1/2 more issues of the comic book that could not be hushed,

Thank Melvin!

Talk to you soon!

Mad THE COMIC BOOK ?Text? Extras 5?

The last day of my posting the "text" extras from Mad THE COMIC BOOK has me back-pedaling.  Other than 1 of the remaining 5, they're fun free-wheeling DENSE cartooning at their Mad best, and not text at all.

The four fun, aimed-at-readers cartoons are self explanatory and ready for your eyes to drink in!

And even the last one, while textual in nature is about 2 of the greatest cartoonist to ever grace the EC pages.  Reprinted from "Frontline Combat" in 1952, "The EC Artists of the Issue - John Severin and Bill Elder.

THIS was indeed a bullpen to watch.

Talk to you soon.

Mad THE COMIC BOOK Text Extras 4!

Mad THE COMIC BOOK #16 continues to poke holes in the convention of using text pages as content filler, but taking it up a notch from issues 13 and 14, where at least they stuck to the Greco-Roman alphabet, here they continue their socio-political bent with ancient Egyptian!

Awesome.

And...:)

Back to the norm with issue 18 and "The Rookie Gladiator"...

...but then again, maybe not.  Here's about as surreal a comic note as ever was hit in Mad.

"Hevo the Great" is the first of 4 text pages in issue #19.  I like how even Kurtzman's spot cartoons can dress even a bunch of boring old words up.

Then back to the series of the un-readable...here's a little backwards talk...you know, like this!

And then, a couple of real treats...at least as presented in my collection of re-prints...these were originally printed elsewhere...here's "The EC Artist of the Issue - Wallace Wood" originally printed in "Weird Science" in 1952.

"The EC Artist of the Issue - Jack Davis!" from "Two-Fisted Tales" in 1952.  Oh the talent that passed through EC's doors.

And then by issue #20, maybe the Mad knucklehead's are starting to notice how truly hip they are.  A slight call back to this story in #9.  More Bop dictionary.

Talk to you soon.