116-457: Bernard Krigstein ( / ˈ k r ɪ ɡ s t aɪ n / ; March 22, 1919 – January 8, 1990) was an American illustrator and gallery artist who received acclaim for his innovative and influential approach to comic book art, notably in EC Comics . His artwork usually displayed the signature B. Krigstein . His best-known work in comic books is the eight-page story " Master Race ", originally published in
232-436: A Dr. Seuss parody called "Free Speeches On The Beaches"). Distribution to newsstands stopped, with the magazine initially becoming available only through comic-book shops and by subscription, although in 2022 distribution expanded to Barnes & Noble via a series of compilation issues dubbed The Treasure Trove of Trash . Though there are antecedents to Mad ' s style of humor in print, radio and film, Mad became
348-531: A gap-toothed smile, and the perennial motto "What, me worry?" The original image was a popular humorous graphic for many decades before Mad adopted it, but the face is now primarily associated with Mad . Mad initially used the boy's face in November 1954. His first iconic full-cover appearance was as a write-in candidate for president on issue No. 30 (December 1956), in which he was identified by name and sported his "What, me worry?" motto. He has since appeared in
464-411: A " film noir -ish bag of effects" in his visuals, while characters and themes found in the crime stories often showed the strong influence of writers associated with film noir , notably James M. Cain . Craig excelled in drawing stories of domestic scheming and conflict, leading David Hajdu to observe: To young people of the postwar years, when the mainstream culture glorified suburban domesticity as
580-447: A boisterous 1930s humor publication that made an editorial point of mocking its own sponsors. Feldstein went so far as to propose an in-house Mad ad agency, and produced a "dummy" copy of what an issue with ads could look like. But Bill Gaines was intractable, telling the television news magazine 60 Minutes , "We long ago decided we couldn't take money from Pepsi-Cola and make fun of Coca-Cola." Gaines' motivation in eschewing ad dollars
696-810: A century, due to reprints that have kept them in the public eye. In 1964–1966, Ballantine Books published five black-and-white paperbacks of EC stories: Tales of the Incredible showcased EC science fiction, while the paperbacks Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror reprinted EC horror tales. EC's Ray Bradbury adaptations were collected in The Autumn People (horror and crime) and Tomorrow Midnight (science fiction). The EC Horror Library (Nostalgia Press, 1971) featured 23 EC stories selected by Bhob Stewart and Bill Gaines, with an introduction by Stewart and an essay by theater critic Larry Stark . One of
812-648: A chemistry teacher. He never taught but instead took over the family business. In 1949 and 1950, Bill Gaines began a line of new titles featuring horror , suspense , science fiction , military fiction and crime fiction . His editors, Al Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman , who also drew covers and stories, gave assignments to such prominent and highly accomplished freelance artists as Johnny Craig , Reed Crandall , Jack Davis , Will Elder , George Evans , Frank Frazetta , Graham Ingels , Jack Kamen , Bernard Krigstein , Joe Orlando , John Severin , Al Williamson , Basil Wolverton , and Wally Wood . With input from Gaines,
928-541: A comic book published by EC , debuting in August 1952 ( cover date October–November). The Mad office was initially located in lower Manhattan at 225 Lafayette Street, while in the early 1960s it moved to 485 Madison Avenue , the location listed in the magazine as "485 MADison Avenue". The first issue was written almost entirely by Harvey Kurtzman , and featured illustrations by him, Wally Wood , Will Elder , Jack Davis , and John Severin . Wood, Elder, and Davis were to be
1044-456: A comic book, Mad had run the same advertisements as the rest of EC's line. The magazine later made a deal with Moxie soda that involved inserting the Moxie logo into various articles. Mad ran a limited number of ads in its first two years as a magazine, helpfully labeled "real advertisement" to differentiate the real from the parodies. The last authentic ad published under the original Mad regime
1160-712: A financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations, Kinney Services spun off its non-entertainment assets as National Kinney Corporation in September 1971, and it changed names to Warner Communications on February 10, 1972. The Tales from the Crypt title was licensed for a movie of that name in 1972. This was followed by another film, The Vault of Horror , in 1973. The omnibus movies Creepshow (1982) and Creepshow 2 , while using original scripts written by Stephen King and George A. Romero , were inspired by EC's horror comics. Creepshow 2 included animated interstitial material between vignettes, featuring
1276-521: A general culture of censorship prevailed in the United States, especially in literature for teens. Activist Tom Hayden said, "My own radical journey began with Mad Magazine ." The rise of such factors as cable television and the Internet has diminished the influence and impact of Mad , although it remains a widely distributed magazine. In a way, Mad ' s power has been undone by its own success: what
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#17328807131411392-586: A godfather: this same generation later went on to give us the sexual revolution, the environmental movement, the peace movement, greater freedom in artistic expression, and a host of other goodies. Coincidence? You be the judge. Pulitzer Prize -winning art comics maven Art Spiegelman said, "The message Mad had in general is, 'The media is lying to you, and we are part of the media.' It was basically ... 'Think for yourselves, kids. ' " William Gaines offered his own view: when asked to cite Mad ' s philosophy, his boisterous answer was, "We must never stop reminding
1508-671: A lava lamp. The cumulative effect carries an impact—simultaneously visceral and intellectual—that is unique to comics." Krigstein also did humor, such as "From Eternity Back to Here" in Mad #12, "Bringing Back Father" in Mad #17 and "Crash McCool" in Mad #26. In the early 1960s, Krigstein left comics in order to draw and paint illustrations for magazines, book jackets (notably, the first edition of Richard Condon 's The Manchurian Candidate ) and record albums, eventually turning away from commercial assignments in order to focus on fine art. In 1962, he took
1624-477: A legal precedent that only a song's composers retained the right to parody that song. Judge Charles Metzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled largely in favor of Mad in 1963, affirming its right to print 23 of the 25 song parodies under dispute. However, in the case of two parodies, "Always" (sung to the tune of " Always ") and "There's No Business Like No Business" (sung to
1740-480: A letter weeks earlier from Lucas himself, expressing delight over the parody and calling artist Mort Drucker and writer Dick DeBartolo "the Leonardo da Vinci and George Bernard Shaw of comic satire." Publisher Bill Gaines made a copy of Lucas' letter, added the handwritten notation "Gee, your boss George liked it!" across the top, and mailed it to the lawyers. Said DeBartolo, "We never heard from them again." Mad
1856-604: A magazine. It was widely imitated and influential, affecting satirical media, as well as the cultural landscape of the late 20th century, with editor Al Feldstein increasing readership to more than two million during its 1973–1974 circulation peak. The magazine, which is the last surviving title from the EC Comics line, publishes satire on all aspects of life and popular culture, politics, entertainment, and public figures. Its format includes TV and movie parodies, and satire articles about everyday occurrences that are changed to seem humorous. Mad ' s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman ,
1972-583: A maker of venetian blinds. Around 1964, Premier sold Mad to Independent News , a division of National Periodical Publications , the publisher of DC Comics . In the summer of 1967, Kinney National Company purchased National Periodical Publications. Kinney bought Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in early 1969. As a result of the car parking scandal, Kinney Services spun off of its non-entertainment assets to form National Kinney Corporation in August 1971, and it reincorporated as Warner Communications, Inc. on February 10, 1972. In 1977, National Periodical Publications
2088-649: A meeting of his fellow publishers and suggested that the comic book industry gather to fight outside censorship and help repair the industry's damaged reputation. They formed the Comics Magazine Association of America and its Comics Code Authority . The CCA code expanded on the ACMP's restrictions. Unlike its predecessor, the CCA code was rigorously enforced, with all comics requiring code approval before their publication. This not being what Gaines intended, he refused to join
2204-618: A position at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan , where he taught for 20 years. As Krigstein told a 1962 interviewer, "It's what happens between these panels that's so fascinating. Look at all that dramatic action that one never gets a chance to see. It's between these panels that the fascinating stuff takes place. And unless the artist would be permitted to delve into that, the form must remain infantile." Krigstein illustrated: Lloyd Alexander's novel, Border Hawk: August Bondi won
2320-557: A reprint series called The EC Artists' Library featuring the comics published by EC, releasing each book by artist. This collection is printed in black and white . In 2013, Dark Horse Comics began reprinting the EC Archives in hardcover volumes, picking up where Gemstone left off, and using the same hardcover full-color format. The first volume to be reprinted was Tales From the Crypt : Volume 4 , with an essay by Cochran. In February 2024, Oni Press announced that it will revive
2436-449: A series of Artist's Editions books in 15" × 22" format, which consist of scans of the original inked comic book art, including pasted lettering and other editorial artifacts that remain on the original pages. Subsequent EC books in the series included a collection of Wally Wood 's EC comic stories, a collection of stories from Mad , and books collecting the work of Jack Davis and Graham Ingels . In 2012, Fantagraphics Books began
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#17328807131412552-508: A signature example of it. Throughout the 1950s, Mad featured groundbreaking parodies combining a sentimental fondness for the familiar staples of American culture—such as Archie and Superman —with a keen joy in exposing the fakery behind the image. Its approach was described by Dave Kehr in The New York Times : " Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding on the radio, Ernie Kovacs on television, Stan Freberg on records, Harvey Kurtzman in
2668-600: A sister title, Panic , edited by Al Feldstein and using the regular Mad artists plus Joe Orlando . EC shifted its focus to a line of more realistic comic book titles, including M.D. and Psychoanalysis (known as the New Direction line). It also renamed its remaining science-fiction comic. Since the initial issues did not carry the Comics Code seal, the wholesalers refused to carry them. After consulting with his staff, Gaines reluctantly started submitting his comics to
2784-471: A slew of guises and comic situations. According to Mad writer Frank Jacobs, a letter was once successfully delivered to the magazine through the U.S. mail bearing only Neuman's face, without any address or other identifying information. The magazine has been involved in various legal actions over the decades, some of which have reached the United States Supreme Court . The most far-reaching
2900-424: A story. At EC's peak, Feldstein edited seven titles while Kurtzman handled three. Artists were assigned stories specific to their styles; for example, Davis and Ingels often drew gruesome, supernatural-themed stories, while Kamen and Evans did tamer material. With hundreds of stories written, common themes surfaced. Some of EC's more well-known themes include: The three horror titles featured stories introduced by
3016-411: A third of this figure by the end of his time as editor. In its earliest incarnation, new issues of the magazine appeared erratically, between four and nine times a year. By the end of 1958, Mad had settled on an unusual eight-times-a-year schedule, which lasted almost four decades. Issues would go on sale 7 to 9 weeks before the start of the month listed on the cover. Gaines felt the atypical timing
3132-490: A trio of horror hosts : The Crypt Keeper introduced Tales from the Crypt ; The Vault-Keeper welcomed readers to The Vault of Horror ; and the Old Witch cackled over The Haunt of Fear . Besides gleefully recounting the unpleasant details of the stories, the characters squabbled with one another, unleashed an arsenal of puns, and even insulted and taunted the readers: "Greetings, boils and ghouls..." This irreverent mockery of
3248-460: A world of bomb shelters, brinkmanship and toothpaste smiles. Mad ' s consciousness of itself, as trash, as comic book, as enemy of parents and teachers, even as money-making enterprise, thrilled kids. In 1955, such consciousness was possibly nowhere else to be found. In a Mad parody, comic-strip characters knew they were stuck in a strip. "Darnold Duck," for example, begins wondering why he has only three fingers and has to wear white gloves all
3364-464: A young protagonist who goes to great length to acquire and keep possession of an issue of the comic book Creepshow . In 1989, Tales from the Crypt began airing on the U.S. cable-TV network HBO . The series ran through 1996, comprising 93 episodes and seven seasons. Tales from the Crypt spawned two children's television series on broadcast TV , Tales from the Cryptkeeper and Secrets of
3480-585: Is a former Nazi death camp commandant named Reissman who had managed to elude justice until he is spotted ten years later riding the New York City Subway . This story was remarkable for its subject matter, since the Holocaust was rarely discussed in popular media of the 1950s, as indicated by the controversy that same year surrounding Alain Resnais 's Night and Fog (1955). Krigstein, who sometimes chafed at
3596-421: Is almost in a competition with itself." Mad ' s satiric net was cast wide. The magazine often featured parodies of ongoing American culture, including advertising campaigns, the nuclear family, the media, big business, education and publishing. In the 1960s and beyond, it satirized such burgeoning topics as the sexual revolution , hippies , the generation gap , psychoanalysis , gun politics , pollution,
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3712-459: Is broken down into four individual poses of desperate physical struggle. Art Spiegelman described the effect in The New Yorker : "The two tiers of wordless staccato panels that climax the story... have often been described as 'cinematic', a phrase thoroughly inadequate to the achievement: Krigstein condenses and distends time itself... Reissman's life floats in space like the suspended matter in
3828-502: Is usually on the cover, with his face replacing that of a celebrity or character who is being lampooned. From 1952 to 2018, Mad published 550 regular magazine issues, as well as scores of reprint "Specials", original-material paperbacks, reprint compilation books and other print projects. After AT&T acquired Time Warner in June 2018, Mad ended newsstand distribution, continuing in comic-book stores and via subscription. Mad began as
3944-420: Is why you got fancier in the first place—and now you're sunk. Mad has provided a continuing showcase for many long-running satirical writers and artists and has fostered an unusual group loyalty. Although several of the contributors earn far more than their Mad pay in fields such as television and advertising, they have steadily continued to provide material for the publication. Among the notable artists were
4060-631: The Los Angeles Times ' Robert Boyd wrote, "All I really need to know I learned from Mad magazine", going on to assert: Plenty of it went right over my head, of course, but that's part of what made it attractive and valuable. Things that go over your head can make you raise your head a little higher. The magazine instilled in me a habit of mind, a way of thinking about a world rife with false fronts, small print, deceptive ads, booby traps, treacherous language, double standards, half truths, subliminal pitches and product placements; it warned me that I
4176-467: The Civil Rights Movement and the dawn of the 1960s counterculture . In 1954–55, censorship pressures prompted it to concentrate on the humor magazine Mad , leading to the company's greatest and most enduring success. Consequently, by 1956, the company ceased publishing all its comic lines except Mad . The firm, first known as Educational Comics, was founded by Max Gaines , former editor of
4292-788: The National Jewish Books Award for Children's Literature in 1959. Krigstein was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. Greg Sadowski's book B. Krigstein, Vol. 1 won the Harvey Award for Best Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation in 2003, and was also nominated for the Harvey Special Award for Excellence in Presentation in 2003. The book also won
4408-585: The Vietnam War and recreational drug use . The magazine took a generally negative tone towards counterculture drugs such as cannabis and LSD , but it also savaged mainstream drugs such as tobacco and alcohol . Mad always satirized Democrats as mercilessly as it did Republicans . In 2007, Al Feldstein recalled, "We even used to rake the hippies over the coals. They were protesting the Vietnam War, but we took aspects of their culture and had fun with it. Mad
4524-477: The " Mad Fold-in ", "The Lighter Side of ..." and its television and movie parodies. The magazine has also included recurring gags and references, both visual (e.g. the Mad Zeppelin, or Arthur the potted plant) and linguistic (unusual words such as axolotl , furshlugginer, potrzebie and veeblefetzer). The image most closely associated with the magazine is that of Alfred E. Neuman , the boy with misaligned eyes,
4640-488: The 1950s is the same generation that, in the 1960s, opposed a war and didn't feel bad when the United States lost for the first time and in the 1970s helped turn out an Administration and didn't feel bad about that either ... It was magical, objective proof to kids that they weren't alone, that in New York City on Lafayette Street, if nowhere else, there were people who knew that there was something wrong, phony and funny about
4756-471: The 2003 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Publication (Periodical or Book). EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc. , ( doing business as EC Comics ) is an American comic book publisher . It specialized in horror fiction , crime fiction , satire , military fiction , dark fantasy , and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series. Initially, EC
Bernard Krigstein - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-520: The ACMP seals placed on comics were meaningless. In 1954, the publication of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and a highly publicized Congressional hearing on juvenile delinquency cast comic books in an especially poor light. At the same time, a federal investigation led to a shakeup in the distribution companies that delivered comic books and pulp magazines across America. Sales plummeted, and several companies went out of business. Gaines called
4988-509: The American way of life. EC always claimed to be "proudest of our science fiction titles", with Weird Science and Weird Fantasy publishing stories unlike the space opera found in such titles as Fiction House 's Planet Comics . Crime SuspenStories had many parallels with film noir . As noted by Max Allan Collins in his story annotations for Russ Cochran 's 1983 hardcover reprint of Crime SuspenStories , Johnny Craig had developed
5104-457: The Code" but "as a result of this [change of format] it did avoid the Code." Gaines claimed that Kurtzman had at the time received "a very lucrative offer from... Pageant magazine," and seeing as he, Kurtzman, "had, prior to that time, evinced an interest in changing Mad into a magazine," Gaines, "not know[ing] anything about publishing magazines," countered that offer by allowing Kurtzman to make
5220-624: The Comics Code Administrator, with a lawsuit when Murphy ordered EC to alter the science-fiction story "Judgment Day", in Incredible Science Fiction #33 (February 1956). The story, by the writer Al Feldstein and artist Joe Orlando , was a reprint from the pre-Code Weird Fantasy #18 (April 1953), inserted when the Code Authority had rejected an initial, original story, "An Eye for an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres, but
5336-402: The Comics Code. East Coast Comix reprinted several of EC's New Trend comics in comic form between 1973 and 1975. The first reprint was the final issue of Tales from the Crypt , with the title revised to state The Crypt of Terror . This issue was originally meant to be the first issue of a fourth horror comic which was changed to the final issue of Tales from the Crypt at the last minute when
5452-476: The Comics Code; all the New Direction titles carried the seal starting with the second issue. This attempted revamp failed commercially and after the fifth issue, all the New Direction titles were canceled. Incredible Science Fiction #33 was the last EC comic book published. Gaines switched focus to EC's Picto-Fiction titles, a line of typeset black-and-white magazines with heavily illustrated stories. Fiction
5568-454: The Crypt , The Vault of Horror , and The Haunt of Fear . These titles reveled in a gruesome joie de vivre , with grimly ironic fates meted out to many of the stories' protagonists. The company's war comics, Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales , often featured weary-eyed, unheroic stories out of step with the jingoistic times. Shock SuspenStories tackled weighty political and social issues such as racism , sex , drug use , and
5684-481: The Cryptkeeper's Haunted House . It also spawned three "Tales from the Crypt"-branded movies, Demon Knight , Bordello of Blood , and Ritual . In 1997, HBO followed the TV series with the similar Perversions of Science (comprising 10 episodes), the episodes of which were based on stories from EC's Weird Science . Although the last non- Mad EC publication came out in 1956, EC Comics have remained popular for half
5800-626: The Galactic Republic should not admit the planet until these problems are resolved. In the final panel, he removes his helmet, revealing he is a Black man. Murphy demanded, without any authority in the Code, that the Black astronaut had to be removed. As Diehl recounted in Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives : This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. "Judge Murphy
5916-513: The New York run also returned to the pages of the California-based issues including contributors Sergio Aragonés , Al Jaffee , Desmond Devlin , Tom Richmond , Peter Kuper , Teresa Burns Parkhurst, Rick Tulka , Tom Bunk , Jeff Kruse, Ed Steckley, Arie Kaplan , writer and former Senior Editor Charlie Kadau , and artist and former Art Director Sam Viviano . The first California issue of Mad
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#17328807131416032-638: The Nursery" (in Collier's ) and "The Psychopathology of Comic Books" (in the American Journal of Psychotherapy ). As a result, an industry trade group , the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers , was formed in 1948 but proved ineffective. EC left the association in 1950 after Gaines argued with its executive director, Henry Schultz. By 1954 only three comic publishers were still members, and Schultz admitted that
6148-489: The Society, the politically like-minded publisher of EC Comics , William Gaines , began giving him work (heeding the advice of editor Harvey Kurtzman). At EC, Krigstein "would produce the most acclaimed stories of his career between 1953 and 1955." Krigstein's best-known work in comic books is editor Al Feldstein's story " Master Race ", originally published in the debut issue (April 1955) of EC Comics' Impact . The protagonist
6264-538: The Supreme Court refused to hear it, allowing the decision to stand. This precedent-setting 1964 ruling established the rights of parodists and satirists to mimic the meter of popular songs. However, the "Sing Along With Mad " songbook was not the magazine's first venture into musical parody. In 1960, Mad had published "My Fair Ad-Man", a full advertising-based spoof of the hit Broadway musical My Fair Lady . In 1959, "If Gilbert & Sullivan wrote Dick Tracy "
6380-410: The aforementioned Davis, Elder and Wood, as well as Sergio Aragonés , Mort Drucker , Don Martin , Dave Berg, George Woodbridge , Harry North and Paul Coker . Writers such as Dick DeBartolo , Stan Hart , Frank Jacobs , Tom Koch , and Arnie Kogen appeared regularly in the magazine's pages. In several cases, only infirmity or death has ended a contributor's run at Mad. Within the industry, Mad
6496-572: The association. Among the Code's new rules were that no comic book title could use the words "horror" or "terror" or "weird" on its cover. When distributors refused to handle many of his comics, Gaines ended publication of his three horror and the two SuspenStory titles on September 14, 1954. Gaines waged several battles with the Comics Code Authority to keep his magazines free from censorship. In one particular example noted by comics historian Digby Diehl, Gaines threatened Judge Charles Murphy,
6612-478: The audience also became the trademark attitude of Mad , and such glib give-and-take was later mimicked by many, including Stan Lee at Marvel Comics . EC's most enduring legacy came with Mad , which started as a side project for Kurtzman before buoying the company's fortunes and becoming one of the country's most notable and long-running humor publications. When satire became an industry rage in 1954, and other publishers created imitations of Mad , EC introduced
6728-497: The brand, starting with horror title Epitaphs from the Abyss and the science fiction title Cruel Universe . The Gaines family licenses the titles. Beginning in the late 1940s, the comic book industry became the target of mounting public criticism for the content of comic books and their potentially harmful effects on children. The problem came to a head in 1948 with the publication by Dr. Fredric Wertham of two articles: "Horror in
6844-499: The change. Gaines further stated that "if Harvey [Kurtzman] had not gotten that offer from Pageant , Mad probably would not have changed format." After Kurtzman's departure in 1956, new editor Al Feldstein swiftly brought aboard contributors such as Don Martin , Frank Jacobs , and Mort Drucker , and later Antonio Prohías , Dave Berg , and Sergio Aragonés . The magazine's circulation more than quadrupled during Feldstein's tenure, peaking at 2,132,655 in 1974; it later declined to
6960-615: The comic-book company All-American Publications , and it was initially a shell company of All-American. When that company merged with DC Comics in June 1945, Gaines retained rights to the comic book Picture Stories from the Bible , and began his new company using the EC name with a plan to market comics about science, history, and the Bible to schools and churches, and soon expanded to produce children's humor titles. A decade earlier, Max Gaines had been one of
7076-595: The comics industry's short-lived attempt at a labor union , The Society of Comic Book Illustrators. Peddy served as vice president under Krigstein, with Harry Harrison as secretary, Larry Woromay as treasurer, and Ross Andru , Ernie Bache, John Celardo , Morrie Marcus and Bernard Sachs as members-at-large. The organization went defunct shortly after publication of its third and final newsletter in June 1953. Krigstein began getting less work from his two mainstays — National Comics (the future DC Comics ) and Atlas Comics (the future Marvel Comics ). But during his presidency of
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#17328807131417192-659: The company in the 1960s as E.C. Publications, Inc., and was eventually absorbed into the same corporation that later purchased National Periodical Publications (later known as DC Comics ). During the 1960s, Gaines granted Bob Barrett, Roger Hill, and Jerry Norton Weist (1949–2011), the co-founder of Million Year Picnic , permission to produce a EC Comics fanzine "Squa Tront" (1967 - 1983) that would last for several years. In June 1967, Kinney National Company (it formed on August 12, 1966, after Kinney Parking/National Cleaning merge) bought National Periodical and E.C., then it purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in early 1969. Due to
7308-492: The company published one-page biographies of them in comic books. This was in contrast to the industry's common practice, in which credits were often missing, although some artists at other companies, such as the Jack Kirby – Joe Simon team, Jack Cole and Bob Kane had been prominently promoted. EC published distinct lines of titles under its Entertaining Comics umbrella. Most notorious were its horror books, Tales from
7424-557: The debut issue ( cover-dated April 1955) of EC Comics' Impact . Born in Brooklyn , New York City to a Jewish household, Krigstein studied art at Brooklyn College . Krigstein's earliest confirmed work in comics is penciling and inking the 10-page, patriotic "kid gang" feature "The Liberty Lads" in Harvey Comics ' Champ Comics #25 ( cover-dated April 1943). He went on to draw for Harvey and for Prize Comics through 1943, during
7540-538: The early issues of Mad : all of those pioneering humorists and many others realized that the real world mattered less to people than the sea of sounds and images that the ever more powerful mass media were pumping into American lives." Bob and Ray , Kovacs and Freberg all became contributors to Mad . In 1977, Tony Hiss and Jeff Lewis wrote in The New York Times about the then-25-year-old publication's initial effect: The skeptical generation of kids it shaped in
7656-709: The end of 2017 with issue No. 550 ( cover-dated April 2018), in preparation for the relocation of its offices to DC Entertainment 's headquarters in Burbank, California . Bill Morrison was named in June 2017 to succeed Ficarra in January 2018. None of MAD ' s New York staff made the move, resulting in a change in editorial leadership, tone, and art direction. More than a hundred new names made their Mad debuts including Brian Posehn , Maria Bamford , Ian Boothby , Luke McGarry , Akilah Hughes , and future Pulitzer Prize finalist Pia Guerra . Scores of artists and writers from
7772-435: The even more hilarious picture of the hydrogen bomb!" The jittery aftertaste of that joke clarified. It was a splinter driven through the carefully measured prose on the back of some Mentor book about Man and His Destiny ... By not fitting in, a joke momentarily interrupted the world. But after the joke you recognized it was a joke and went back to the integral world that the joke broke. But what if it never came back again, and
7888-419: The first books to reprint comic book stories in color throughout, it followed the original color guides by Marie Severin . In addition to the stories from EC's horror titles, the book also included Bernard Krigstein 's famous "Master Race" story from Impact and the first publication of Angelo Torres ' "An Eye for an Eye", originally slated for the final issue of Incredible Science Fiction but rejected by
8004-491: The horror comics were cancelled in 1954. A dozen issues ended up being reprinted. Russ Cochran reprints include EC Portfolios , The Complete EC Library , EC Classics , RCP Reprints (Russ Cochran) , EC Annuals , and EC Archives (hardcover books). The EC full-color hardcovers were under the Gemstone imprint. Dark Horse continued this series in the same format. In February 2010, IDW Publishing began publishing
8120-559: The illogical, hypocritical, self-serious and ludicrous" before concluding, "Nowadays, it's part of the oxygen we breathe." Joyce Carol Oates called it "wonderfully inventive, irresistibly irreverent and intermittently ingenious." Artist Dave Gibbons said, "When you think of the people who grew up in the '50s and '60s, the letters M-A-D were probably as influential as L-S-D, in that it kind of expanded people's consciousness and showed them an alternative view of society and consumer culture—mocked it, satirized it." Gibbons also noted that Mad
8236-429: The limits of the material EC gave him to illustrate, expanded what had been planned for six pages into an eight-page story. The results were so striking that the company reworked the issue to accommodate the two extra pages. In his expansion, Krigstein had stretched out certain sequences in purely visual terms; repetitive strobe-like drawings mimic the motion of a passing train, and Commandant Reissman's final moment of life
8352-581: The little gap stayed there and became everything? In 1994, Brian Siano in The Humanist discussed the effect of Mad on that segment of people already disaffected from society: For the smarter kids of two generations, Mad was a revelation: it was the first to tell us that the toys we were being sold were garbage, our teachers were phonies, our leaders were fools, our religious counselors were hypocrites, and even our parents were lying to us about damn near everything. An entire generation had William Gaines for
8468-417: The magazine was obliged to abandon its long-time home at 485 Madison Avenue and in the mid-1990s it moved into DC Comics's offices at the same time that DC relocated to 1700 Broadway . In issue No. 403 of March 2001, the magazine broke its long-standing taboo and began running paid advertising. The outside revenue allowed the introduction of color printing and improved paper stock. After Meglin retired in 2004,
8584-407: The magazine's impact on him, saying, "You start reading it, and you're going, 'These people don't respect anything .' And that just exploded my head. It was like, you don't have to buy it. You can say 'This is stupid. This is stupid. ' " Critic Roger Ebert wrote: I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine ... Mad ' s parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin—of
8700-419: The magazine's parody of the film The Empire Strikes Back , a letter from George Lucas 's lawyers arrived in Mad' s offices demanding that the issue be recalled for infringement on copyrighted figures. The letter further demanded that the printing plates be destroyed, and that Lucasfilm must receive all revenue from the issue plus additional punitive damages. Unbeknownst to Lucas' lawyers, Mad had received
8816-512: The magazine, such as The Mad Magazine Game , a series of video games based on Spy vs. Spy , and the notorious Up the Academy movie (which the magazine later disowned). Mad explicitly promised that it would never make its mailing list available. Both Kurtzman and Feldstein wanted the magazine to solicit advertising, feeling this could be accomplished without compromising Mad' s content or editorial independence. Kurtzman remembered Ballyhoo ,
8932-405: The margins as all of culture competes for trickster status." Longtime contributor Al Jaffee described the dilemma to an interviewer in 2010: "When Mad first came out, in 1952, it was the only game in town. Now, you've got graduates from Mad who are doing The Today Show or Stephen Colbert or Saturday Night Live . All of these people grew up on Mad . Now Mad has to top them. So Mad
9048-750: The modern American ideal – the life that made the Cold War worth fighting – nothing else in the panels of EC comics, not the giant alien cockroach that ate earthlings, not the baseball game played with human body parts, was so subversive as the idea that the exits of the Long Island Expressway emptied onto levels of Hell. Superior illustrations of stories with surprise endings became EC's trademark. Gaines would generally stay up late and read large amounts of material while seeking "springboards" for story concepts. The next day he would present each premise until Feldstein found one that he thought he could develop into
9164-410: The owner of the copyright had allowed the image to pass into the public domain, thus establishing the right of Mad —or anyone else—to use the image. In addition, Mad established that Stuff was not himself the creator of the image, by producing numerous other examples dating back to the late 19th century. This decision was also allowed to stand. Other legal disputes were settled more easily. Following
9280-515: The period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books . Following his service in World War II , he returned to comic books in 1945, working for publishers including Fawcett Comics (1947–48), Novelty/Premium/Curtis (1947), and Hillman Periodicals (1948-51). In 1952, Krigstein spearheaded an effort by himself and fellow comics artists Arthur Peddy , George Evans and Edd Ashe to found
9396-543: The pioneers of the comic book form, with Eastern Color Printing 's proto-comic book Funnies on Parade , and with Dell Publishing 's Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , considered by historians the first true American comic book . When Max Gaines died in 1947 in a boating accident, his son William inherited the comics company. After four years (1942–1946) in the Army Air Corps , Gaines had returned home to finish school at New York University , planning to work as
9512-399: The reader what little value they get for their money!" Comics historian Tom Spurgeon picked Mad as the medium's top series of all time, writing, "At the height of its influence, Mad was The Simpsons , The Daily Show and The Onion combined." Graydon Carter chose it as the sixth-best magazine of any sort ever, describing Mad ' s mission as being "ever ready to pounce on
9628-455: The results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. "This is ridiculous!" he bellowed. "I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you". Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat". At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. "Fuck you!" they shouted into
9744-420: The roof, and finally they said, "Well, you gotta take the perspiration off". I had the stars glistening in the perspiration on his Black skin. Bill said, "Fuck you", and he hung up. Mad (magazine) Mad (stylized as MAD ) is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines , launched as a comic book series before it became
9860-457: The same place and move the background around. We quite mercilessly stole the wonderful techniques Harvey Kurtzman had invented in Mad . In a 1985 Tonight Show appearance, when Johnny Carson asked Michael J. Fox , "When did you really know you'd made it in show business?", Fox replied, "When Mort Drucker drew my head." In 2019, Terence Winter , writer and producer of The Sopranos , told Variety "When we got into Mad Magazine, that
9976-542: The stories were written by Kurtzman, Feldstein, and Craig. Other writers, including Carl Wessler , Jack Oleck , and Otto Binder , were later brought on board. EC succeeded with its fresh approach and pioneered forming relationships with its readers through its letters to the editor and fan organization, the National EC Fan-Addict Club. EC Comics promoted its stable of illustrators, allowing each to sign his art and encouraging them to develop distinctive styles;
10092-491: The team of Ficarra (as executive editor) Raiola and Kadau (as senior editors), and Sam Viviano , who had taken over as art director in 1999, would helm Mad for the next 14 years. Throughout the years, MAD remained a unique mix of adolescent silliness and political humor. In November 2017, Rolling Stone wrote that "operating under the cover of barf jokes, MAD has become America's best political satire magazine." Nevertheless, Mad ended its 65-year run in New York City at
10208-494: The telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form. Feldstein, interviewed for the book Tales of Terror: The EC Companion , reiterated his recollection of Murphy making the request: So he said it can't be a Black [person]. So I said, "For God's sakes, Judge Murphy, that's the whole point of the Goddamn story!" So he said, "No, it can't be a Black". Bill [Gaines] just called him up [later] and raised
10324-529: The three main illustrators throughout the 23-issue run of the comic book. To retain Kurtzman as its editor, the comic book converted to magazine format as of issue No. 24, in 1955. The switchover induced Kurtzman to remain for one more year, but the move had removed Mad from the strictures of the Comics Code Authority . William Gaines related in 1992 that Mad "was not changed [into a magazine] to avoid
10440-443: The time. He ends up wanting to murder every other Disney character. G.I. Schmoe tries to win the sexy Asiatic Red Army broad by telling her, "O.K., baby! You're all mine! I gave you a chance to hit me witta gun butt ... But naturally, you have immediately fallen in love with me, since I am a big hero of this story." Mad is often credited with filling a vital gap in political satire from the 1950s to 1970s, when Cold War paranoia and
10556-427: The tune of " There's No Business Like Show Business "), Judge Metzner decided that the issue of copyright infringement was closer, requiring a trial because in each case the parodies relied on the same verbal hooks ("always" and "business") as the originals. The music publishers appealed the ruling, but the U.S. Court of Appeals not only upheld the pro- Mad decision in regard to the 23 songs, it adopted an approach that
10672-451: The way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies ; I lost it at Mad magazine. Rock singer Patti Smith said more succinctly, "After Mad , drugs were nothing." Mad is known for many regular and semi-regular recurring features in its pages, including " Spy vs. Spy ",
10788-539: The work that impressed them in their childhood and youth. I still feel extremely inadequate when I look at the old Mad comics." When Weird Al Yankovic was asked whether Mad had had any influence in putting him on a road to a career in parody, the musician replied, "[It was] more like going off a cliff." Mystery Science Theater 3000 writer-actor Frank Conniff wrote, "Without Mad Magazine, MST3K would have been slightly different, like for instance, it wouldn't have existed." Comedian Jerry Seinfeld talked about
10904-400: The years, the Mad crew traveled to such locales as France, Kenya , Russia, Hong Kong, England, Amsterdam , Tahiti , Morocco , Italy, Greece, and Germany. The tradition ended with Gaines' death, and a 1993 trip to Monte Carlo . Although Mad was an exclusively freelance publication, it achieved remarkable stability, with numerous contributors remaining prominent for decades. Critics of
11020-408: The younger generation of the 1950s: By now they knew the [nuclear survival] pamphlets lied ... Rod Serling knew a lot more than President Eisenhower . There were even jokes about the atom bomb in Mad , a gallows humor commenting on its own ghastliness: "The last example of this nauseating, busted-crutch type humor is to show an atom-bomb explosion! However, this routine, we feel, is giving way to
11136-435: Was Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc. In 1961, a group of music publishers representing songwriters such as Irving Berlin , Richard Rodgers , and Cole Porter filed a $ 25 million lawsuit against Mad for copyright infringement following "Sing Along With Mad ", a collection of parody lyrics which the magazine said could be "sung to the tune of" many popular songs. The publishing group hoped to establish
11252-480: Was an overt influence on Watchmen , the acclaimed 12-issue comic book series created by writer Alan Moore and himself: When it comes to the kind of storytelling we did in Watchmen , we used many of the tricks Harvey Kurtzman perfected in Mad . The thing for instance where you have a background that remains constant, and have characters walk around in front of it. Or the inverse of that, where you have characters in
11368-445: Was automatically invited, along with freelancers who had qualified for an invitation by selling a set number of articles or pages during the previous year. Gaines was strict about enforcing this quota, and one year, longtime writer and frequent traveller Arnie Kogen was bumped off the list. Later that year, Gaines' mother died, and Kogen was asked if he would be attending the funeral. "I can't," said Kogen, "I don't have enough pages." Over
11484-531: Was broad enough to strip the publishers of their limited victory regarding the remaining two songs. Writing a unanimous opinion for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit , Circuit Judge Irving Kaufman observed, "We doubt that even so eminent a composer as plaintiff Irving Berlin should be permitted to claim a property interest in iambic pentameter ." The publishers again appealed, but
11600-434: Was for Famous Artists School ; two issues later, the inside front cover of issue No. 34 had a parody of the same ad. After this transitional period, the only promotions to appear in Mad for decades were house ads for Mad' s own books and specials, subscriptions, and promotional items such as ceramic busts, T-shirts, or a line of Mad jewelry. This rule was bent only a few times to promote outside products directly related to
11716-471: Was formatted to alternate illustrations with blocks of typeset text, and some of the contents were rewrites of stories previously published in EC's comic books. This experimental line lost money from the start and only lasted two issues per title. When EC's national distributor went bankrupt, Gaines dropped all of his titles except Mad . Mad sold well throughout the company's troubles, and Gaines focused exclusively on publishing it in magazine form. This move
11832-608: Was founded as Educational Comics by Maxwell Gaines and specialized in educational and child-oriented stories. After Max Gaines died in a boating accident in 1947, his son William Gaines took over the company and renamed it Entertaining Comics . He printed more mature stories, delving into horror, war, fantasy, science-fiction, adventure, and other genres. Noted for their high quality and shock endings, these stories were also unique in their socially conscious, progressive themes (including racial equality , anti-war advocacy , nuclear disarmament , and environmentalism ) that anticipated
11948-411: Was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being Black ". The story depicted a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, visiting the planet Cybrinia, inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, with one having fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut determines that due to the robots' bigotry,
12064-463: Was known for the uncommonly prompt manner in which its contributors were paid. Publisher Gaines would typically write a personal check and give it to the artist upon receipt of the finished product. Wally Wood said, "I got spoiled ... Other publishers don't do that. I started to get upset if I had to wait a whole week for my check." Another lure for contributors was the annual "Mad Trip", an all-expenses-paid tradition that began in 1960. The editorial staff
12180-485: Was less philosophical than practical: We'd have to improve our package. Most advertisers want to appear in a magazine that's loaded with color and has super-slick paper. So you find yourself being pushed into producing a more expensive package. You get bigger and fancier and attract more advertisers. Then you find you're losing some of your advertisers. Your readers still expect the fancy package, so you keep putting it out, but now you don't have your advertising income, which
12296-463: Was necessary to maintain the magazine's level of quality. Beginning in 1994, Mad then began incrementally producing additional issues per year, until it reached a monthly schedule with issue No. 353 (Jan. 1997). With its 500th issue (June 2009), amid company-wide cutbacks at Time Warner, the magazine temporarily regressed to a quarterly publication before settling to six issues per year in 2010. Gaines sold his company in 1961 to Premier Industries,
12412-487: Was off his nut. He was really out to get us", recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. "I went in there with this story and Murphy says, 'It can't be a Black man'. But ... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. "Listen", he told Murphy, "you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business". [Feldstein] reported
12528-408: Was often merely the target of people who claimed to be my friend; it prompted me to mistrust authority, to read between the lines, to take nothing at face value, to see patterns in the often shoddy construction of movies and TV shows; and it got me to think critically in a way that few actual humans charged with my care ever bothered to. In 1988, Geoffrey O'Brien wrote about the impact Mad had upon
12644-509: Was one of several parties that filed amicus curiae briefs with the Supreme Court in support of 2 Live Crew and its disputed song parody, during the 1993 Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. case. Mad was long noted for its absence of advertising, enabling it to satirize materialist culture without fear of reprisal. For decades, it was the most successful American magazine to publish ad-free, beginning with issue No. 33 (April 1957) and continuing through issue No. 402 (February 2001). As
12760-538: Was one of the speculative pairings in "If Famous Authors Wrote the Comics". In 1966, a series of copyright infringement lawsuits against the magazine regarding ownership of the Alfred E. Neuman image eventually reached the appellate level. Although Harry Stuff had copyrighted the image in 1914, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that, by allowing many copies of the image to circulate without any copyright notice,
12876-518: Was renamed DC Comics. Feldstein retired in 1985, and was replaced by the senior team of Nick Meglin and John Ficarra , who co-edited Mad for the next two decades. Long-time production artist Lenny "The Beard" Brenner was promoted to art director and Joe Raiola and Charlie Kadau joined the staff as junior editors. Following Gaines's death in 1992, Mad became more ingrained within the Time Warner (now WarnerMedia ) corporate structure. Eventually,
12992-750: Was renumbered as "#1." In 2019, the rebooted magazine earned two Eisner Award nominations—the first such nominations in MAD's history—for the Best Short Story and Best Humor Publication categories. AT&T acquired Time Warner in June 2018. Morrison exited MAD by March 2019, during a time of layoffs and restructuring at DC Entertainment. After issue No. 10 (Dec. 2019) of the new Burbank edition, Mad began to consist mostly of curated reprints with new covers and fold-ins, although some new articles have been periodically featured, including parodies of The Batman ("The Bathroom") and Elon Musk's tenure at Twitter (in
13108-636: Was subversive in the 1950s and 1960s is now commonplace. However, its impact on three generations of humorists is incalculable, as can be seen in the frequent references to Mad on the animated series The Simpsons . The Simpsons producer Bill Oakley said, " The Simpsons has transplanted Mad magazine. Basically everyone who was young between 1955 and 1975 read Mad , and that's where your sense of humor came from. And we knew all these people, you know, Dave Berg and Don Martin—all heroes, and unfortunately, now all dead." In 2009, The New York Times wrote, " Mad once defined American satire; now it heckles from
13224-405: Was the highlight for me. That said everything." Monty Python 's Terry Gilliam wrote, " Mad became the Bible for me and my whole generation." Underground cartoonist Bill Griffith said of his youth, " Mad was a life raft in a place like Levittown , where all around you were the things that Mad was skewering and making fun of." Robert Crumb remarked, "Artists are always trying to equal
13340-533: Was to reconcile its editor Harvey Kurtzman , who had received an offer to join the magazine Pageant , but preferred to remain in charge of his magazine. The switch also removed Mad from the auspices of the Comics Code . Kurtzman, regardless, left Mad soon afterward when Gaines would not give him 51 percent control of the magazine, and Gaines brought back Al Feldstein as Kurtzman's successor. The magazine enjoyed great success for decades afterward. Gaines sold
13456-566: Was wide open. Bill loved it, and he was a capitalist Republican. I loved it, and I was a liberal Democrat. That went for the writers, too; they all had their own political leanings, and everybody had a voice. But the voices were mostly critical. It was social commentary, after all." Mad also ran a good deal of less topical or contentious material on such varied subjects as fairy tales , nursery rhymes , greeting cards , sports, small talk , poetry, marriage, comic strips , awards shows , cars and many other areas of general interest. In 2007,
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