Harvey KurtzmanRezensionen

Fourth in a series of Mad magazine reprints from the periodical's early days. Covering the period from April 1954- June 1954, Mad makes fun of GI Joe, The Face Upon the Floor, Wonder Woman, Shane, Flash Gordon, Dragnet (again), Archie, From Here To Eternity and Mark Trails.
This issue also sees the introduction of Basil Wolverton's macabre, hideous illustrations, as well as covers by artists other than Kurtzman. Starting with Issue #11, Mad beings making fun of another EC-issued crime story line, and does a send-up of 3D comics (a lousy idea, no matter what year they're introduced).
Along with the usual gang or artists, one B. Krigstein's work is included, but he's clearly not up to the task, and provides filler material.

A perfect mix of Dickens' description and some fantastic artwork.½

Frida læser økologi og engelsk litteratur og deler en lille lejlighed med en veninde, Bente. Både hun og veninden har mange fyre på besøg i sengen og på sofaen og i badekarret og så videre. En side eller to pr episode.
Samleje med telefonforstyrrelser. Skovtur med klage over pattebarnsopførsel klares med patter. En sløv fyr græder da han bliver skældt ud, men det er fordi Dumbo i fjernsynet ikke kan finde sin mor. En fyr beholder sokkerne på, for hans mor har sagt at det skal han gøre, når det er koldt, for ikke at blive forkølet. En tur i badekarret med en fyr bliver bedre af at hun forestiller at det er en lækker kvinde i stedet for en fyr. Samleje med telefonforstyrrelser. Samleje i en busk på kælkebakken er koldt for maven. Vekslen mellem følsom og drillen og slåssen ender med fyren på gulvet. En tur i drive-in bio ender med en pizza i fjæset eller måske begynder den med det. Brormand kommer på besøg og bliver lidt overrasket over at Frida render rundt med bar overkrop, men måske endnu mere over at Bente bare kommer splitternøgen ind og sætter sig på wc. Frida går på ungkarlebar og møder en med jakkesæt og pæne tænder, så hun tænker bryllup og han tænker fræk sex. Til jul er Frida sammen med Joe, der har givet hende et par trusser med navnet Joe på, så hun har også fundet et par til ham, men der står Mor på. Frida kører bil sammen med Henning og han spiller tør og kedelig, så hun giver ham et blowjob, mens de kører. Frida er i bad, da Bente kommer ind, men skjuler det godt at Jakob er med i badet. Frida og en fyr sidder i sofaen og kigger i hver sin bog "Kroppen" henholdsvis "Tanken", men det kører ikke så godt. Frida prøver at ringe til Jakob, men der er optaget og han får et møgfald, da han dukker op, selv om han egentlig havde en lovlig undskyldning. Frida og en fyr skændes, men ender i seng alligevel, for de har faktisk glemt hvad diskussionen drejede sig om. Frida og en fyr snakker mullernullersprog, men det må Frida åbenbart ikke fortsætte med i telefonen? Frida og Jakob trænger til krydderi og går til den i køkkenet. Frida dropper en aftale med Bjarne for at være sammen med Jakob, men Jakob er hurtigt færdig, faktisk for hurtigt, så hun genoptager Bjarne. En gang ensomhed kan klares med en dobbelt pizza med salami. Frida føler sig fed, men Jakob synes hun er fed. Bente og Frida mundhugges lidt om at deling af ting i lejligheden, men Frida vil ikke dele Jakob og de smutter ind på hendes værelse til Bentes store fortrydelse. Frida og en fyr knalder, men så kommer han til at sige at han vil gemmenknalde hende. Frida og Jakob bruger dagen på at knalde eller tale om at knalde, så de holder fri og tager ud at spise, men kommer snart til at snakke om bananer og deres brug. Frida giver Henry et slags pity-fuck, men lytter alligevel til ham. Hun er lettere star-struck over at professoren snakker med hende, drikker kaffe med hende og faktisk ender i seng med hende. Hun har bedre kondi end professoren, på flere måder. Frida møder Jakob over en tår øl, men hun synes ikke at han er så hot længere, men professoren og et værelse på Plaza er hot. Frida har professoren med rundt på juleindkøb og juleknald, men det har han ikke helt kondi til. Frida er slet ikke jaloux, siger hun, men alligevel får Jakob en på hatten, da han fortæller at han har været i skumbad med Inge, og først bagefter fortæller at han og Inge var fire år dengang. Professoren Siegfried er lidt jaloux på de unge fyre, men Frida er jaloux på hans arbejde og opgaveretning. Frida og hendes engelskprofessor har gjort det på fransk, men det skal de andre på holdet helst ikke vide. Susanne på holdet har også drukket kaffe med Siegfried, så Frida er jaloux. Jakob spiser kun når han er sulten, men han trøstespiser alligevel, da Frida indrømmer at hun har haft professoren på besøg i lejligheden. En lidt fræk gang snak med Bjarne i telefonen bliver mere fræk af at Jakob gentager snakker imens, bare fysisk. Bjarne kommer på besøg men han er bare lidt sexfikseret kikset. Jakob bruger Bjarne-aftalen til at drive Frida til vanvid. Faktisk tager hun lidt hævn ved at have Bjarne med i seng, men han er lettere ulidelig og fx river han sine tånegle af i stedet for at klippe dem. Alligevel holder hun lidt ved Bjarne, men han er ikke nem at snakke med. To piger ude at spise for sig selv og to mænd ude at spise for sig selv. Bjarne og Frida snakker om deres fantasier og ender i biografen, men hun vil slikke den af på ham og han vil ikke have det, mens Ingrid Bergman kikker! (Sjov cameo af Casablanca og Humphrey Bogart).

Husk at i en mørk tid, er der altid lys i køleskabet. De her striber er faktisk ret underholdende.

The posthumous completion of Harvey Kurtzman's version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Kurtzman came up with the idea back in the 1950s, but it was never realizated, until now. It is a great version of the tale and I think the art would be very attractive to a younger reader. There are some changes from the original, obviously, but I think the intent is carried through beautifully.

Humbug will be a crusading magazine. We will tackle important important national issues such as Should the Mayflower Replica be Allowed to Land in the U.S., and Fluoridation — the Red Conspiracy.

Humbug will be a responsible magazine. We won’t write for morons. We won’t do anything just to get laughs. We won’t be dirty. We won’t be grotesque. We won’t be in bad taste. We won’t sell any magazines.

— Harvey Kurtzman in Humbug No. 1, August 1957

Following the 1956 departure from his seminal creation Mad, editor Harvey Kurtzman developed the slick, full-color parody magazine Trump for Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner. Though the initial two issues, featuring contributors and sensibilities similar to Mad’s, sold well, Hefner canceled the series, citing financial limitations. Soon after, Kurtzman and five of his Trump cohorts — Jack Davis, [a:Will Elder|24493|Will Elder|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], [a:Al Jaffee|2630|Al Jaffee|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], [a:Arnold Roth|533830|Arnold Roth|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], and production man Harry Chester — formed a cooperative to publish the humorous Humbug. Although they produced only 11 monthly issues, from August 1957 through August 1958, the magazine paved the way for the general newsstand acceptance of National Lampoon and Spy. Never before reprinted, Fantagraphics recently collected Humbug, complete with new essays, interviews, and annotations, in two handsome hardback volumes.

Inspired by the French magazine Le Charivari and its descendant, the British weekly Punch, Humbug contained parodies (a la Mad), faux ads, and satirical prose sending up various aspects of the media, politics, and sports. Each issue featured the artistic talents of Davis, Elder, Jaffee, Roth, and the occasional guests, such as war-comics illustrator Russ Heath, New Yorker cartoonist R. O. Blechman, and Mad alum [a:Wally Wood|80540|Wally Wood|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]. Contributing writers included Larry Siegel (Carol Burnett Show, Laugh-In), screenwriter Ken Englund, and novelist and playwright [a:Ira Wallach|1761940|Ira Wallach|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg].

Jack Davis and Will Elder skewered late-’50s movies, films, and sports. Their individual lampooning of the controversial [a:Tennessee Williams|7751|Tennessee Williams|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206504901p2/7751.jpg] film Baby-Doll, the game show Twenty-one — months before the infamous Van Doren scandal — Mike Todd’s cameo-laden Around the World In 80 Days, the classic TV western Have Gun Will Travel, Flash Gordon, Jailhouse Rock, Frankenstein, Tarzan, baseball, basketball, and auto racing elevated the comic-book parody beyond the standards of Mad and Trump. For Humbug, Davis produced some of the best work of his long career.

Al Jaffee, creator of the famed Mad fold-ins, laughed at the cultural icons and artifacts of the period. In issue one, Jaffee’s amazingly detailed flattened Corn Flake (sic) box as a “medium of communication” created a stir with the nearly microscopic accurate reprinting of the urinating-on-a-house-fire scene from Gulliver’s Travels. (Most likely to silence those who doubted the scene’s veracity, Kurtzman printed it — at standard size — in the series’ final issue.) Cut out, the Corn Flake layout itself folded into a working box. In later issues, Jaffee tackled varied topics — highways, health care, advertising, weddings — all with equal skill and irreverence.

Roth’s contributions overlapped the others, but generally focused more on the politics of the period. For the initial issue, he rendered the first Humbug Award, a regular curmudgeon’s pinup of controversial figures including Teamster’s president Dave Beck, disgraced 1957 Miss USA Leona Gage, segregationist Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, Mike Wallace, and Santa Claus.

Humbug also published prose pieces mocking the then-contemporary and classic literature throughout its run, of which the hilarious “A Candid View Of Wm. Shakespeare at Work,” “Something of Mau Mau,” “Marjorie Morningsun,” and “Pagan Place” are highlights.

Editor Kurtzman welcomed letters and devoted one to two pages each issue to the missives, complete with his often witty rejoinders.

For the attractive slip-case-covered reprint, Fantagraphics wisely includes several insightful and interesting extras. The introduction establishes the proper context and historical background for the key players and the publication. A fascinating Kurtzman oeuvre rounds out the introduction. An interview with Roth and Jaffee offers an insider’s account of Humbug’s creation and inner workings. The playful banter between the artists, who clearly like and respect one another, and the inclusion of rare photographs of the entire staff enhances the interchange.

Most importantly, scholar John Benson annotates all 11 issues. In the ensuing 50 years, several of the pop-culture and political references have faded into obscurity. In perhaps the only deficit in an otherwise magnificent two-volume set, all the annotations are included at the end of Book Two. Splitting the notes between the two, placing the revealing backstory closer to the facts in question, would have better served the reader.

Man — we’re beat!

Oh yes — it’s too much.

Radiation has got us beat.

The levelling-off period has got us beat.

Satire has got us beat.

1953 — We started MAD magazine for a comic book publisher and we did some pretty good satire and it sold very well.

1956 — We started TRUMP magazine and we worked much harder and we did much better satire and we sold much worse.

1957 — We started HUMBUG magazine and we worked hardest of all and turned out the very best satire of all, which of course now sells the very worst of all.

—Harvey Kurtzman in Humbug No. 11, August 1958

This review originally appeared in San Antonio Current May 13, 2009.

The two main reasons to read this are Harvey Kurtzman and the historical context. Publishing during the Korean War, the creators were careful to depict war accurately, rather than the romanticized propaganda of the WWII comics. I used to skip over the one-page prose stories as a kid and discover they're just as unreadable now. I understand why they modernized the colors, and that most audiences will prefer that look, but I found it distracting. Confusingly, these books all have the Comics Code seal on them.

Complete full-color reprint of first 23 issues of Mad magazine (1952-1955) in four volumes (I'm missing vol. 3, dammit), one of the high points of early-'50s American culture and a prime factor in making me the person I am today. If you only know the latter-day, sometimes-mildly-amusing version of Mad, you should really get acquainted with Harvey Kurtzman's wild-eyed, anything-goes, adult-oriented original, which went downhill as soon as he left in 1956. Potrzebie!

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