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!
Every last gosh darn one of them gang of idiots was geniuses!
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgreed!
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