Gary Groth

Will Elder

by Will Elder The trade paperback version of this book was offered months ago and has already received great notice - so Fantagraphics just had to make it even more special by printing a limited hardcover version and a signed hardcover version! Included are stories from the original MAD comic, Humbug, Help!, and Little Annie Fanny pages shot directly from the original painted artwork! Also included is commentary by Hugh Hefner, Harvey Kurtzman, and Jerry Garcia, who describe the impact that Elder's work had on satire and comic art in the second half of the 20th Century. Get this special edition NOW! Introduction by Daniel Clowes HC, 9x12, 300pg, FC

The Mad Playboy of Art

Harvey Kurtzman

Jack Davis

Al Jaffee

Arnold Roth

You know MAD. Do you know Humbug? Harvey Kurtzman changed the face of American humor when he created the legendary MAD comic. As editor and chief writer from its inception in 1952, through its transformation into a slick magazine, and until he left MAD in 1956, he influenced an entire generation of cartoonists, comedians, and filmmakers. In 1962, he co-created the long-running Little Annie Fanny with his long-time artistic partner Will Elder forPlayboy, which he continued to produce until his virtual retirement in 1988. Between MAD and Annie Fanny, Kurtzman’s biographical summaries will note that he created and edited three other magazines―Trump, Humbug, and Help!―but, whereas his MAD and Annie Fanny are readily available in reprint form, his major satirical work in the interim period is virtually unknown. Humbug, which had poor distribution, may be the least known, but to those who treasure the rare original copies, it equals or even exceeds MAD in displaying Kurtzman’s creative genius. Humbug was unique in that it was actually published by the artists who created it: Kurtzman and his cohorts from MAD, Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Al Jaffee, were joined by universally acclaimed cartoonist Arnold Roth. With no publisher above them to rein them in, this little band of creators produced some of the most trenchant and engaging satire of American culture ever to appear on American newsstands.

Humbug

Al Feldstein

This collection includes all 15 of Elder’s humorous Panic stories (The Night Before Christmas” got the first issue banned in the entire state of Massachusetts); all seven of his science fiction tales from the pages of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy (including two Ray Bradbury adaptations, "The King of the Grey Spaces!” and “The Million-Year Picnic"); and a special horror story that hasn’t been seen since its original publication more than 60 years ago.

And Other Stories

The Million Year Picnic

Goodman Beaver

Will Elder

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