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!

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!