Monday Madness ESQUIRE "Return of A Christmas Carol"

The tale of Scrooge's Yuletide redemption has been told and re-told ad nauseum since 1843...

...but never quite like this updated version from Esquire Magazine (December, 1961).

Adapted/laid-out by Harvey Kurtzman and illustrated by David Levine, this re-telling is loaded with Mad Men-era pop culture and political references you'll have to Google to understand if you didn't live through the era!
Consider it our Monday Madness Xmas gift!

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Friday Fun TRUMP "Toys Realistic in Every Detail!"

Since brick-and-mortar retail stores began running Christmas sales before Halloween...

...we feel we're actually behind schedule running this classic feature about one of the most important aspects of the Yuletide season...TOYS...illustrated by Al Jaffee and likely written by Editor Harvey Kurtzman from Playboy Press' Trump #1 (1957)!

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Friday Fun TRUMP "Common Cold"

Long before a putz named Donald made the word a world-wide punchline...

...there was a humor magazine with this name published by Hugh (Playboy) Hefner.

Illustrated by Al Jaffee and likely written by editor Harvey Kurtzman, Jaffee himself (who was also serving as assistant editor), or Will Elder, this two-pager from #1 (1957) was a typical example of the high level of humor the creators (who had just left MAD) were capable of!

Though sales were decent, unrelated financial problems caused Hefner to cancel the title with #2 (and all other non-Playboy projects at that point in time.
Needless to say, Hugh overcame this temporary fiscal setback to create a world-wide publishing empire!
Kurtzman and Elder continued to do projects with Hefner, the best-known being Little Annie Fanny!
And, sadly, Al Jaffee, who's best-known for creating MAD Magazine's MAD Fold-In back cover feature passed away this week.

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Friday Fun TRUMP! "Tranquilizers"

Ironically, from a 1950s magazine called Trump...

...(not named after a stress-inducing a-hole) comes this feature by artist Al Jaffee and (likely) writer Harvey Kurtzman about the "benefits" of stress-relieving drugs!

Note the Alfred E Neuman-esque figure at the end of the piece!

"What, me worry?', indeed!

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Holiday Reading Room HUMBUG! "Humbug Award for Fake Santa Clauses"

Remember this cute tale of multiple Santa Clauses by Walt Kelly?

...well, here's a far more cynical take on the matter, courtesy of artist Will Elder from the appropriately-titled Humbug #6 (1958)!

The writer is probably Elder or editorial staffers Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, or Arnold Roth.

Any guesses?

HUMBUG!

Not just Scrooge's favorite phrase...

Art by Jack Davis

...for just over a year in 1957-58, it was a kool humor magazine edited by Harvey Kurtzman after the cancellation of TRUMP, a magazine Kutzman intended to be a more adult version of MAD.

For their Christmastime issue, they, of course, adapted Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

See it here, on Monday...

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A Christmas Carol / Scrooge

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D-Day Special on "WAR: Past, Present & Future"

Our "brother" blog WAR: Past, Present & Future is running a special D-Day tribute strip from EC's Two-Fisted Tales by Harvey Kurtzman, John Severin, Ben Oda, and Marie Severin.
(Normally it posts weekly on Fridays.)
It's a classic example of effective graphic storytelling, appropriately by three WWII veterans!