Friday Fun MADHOUSE "Going-Going-Real Gone!"

What if Casper the Friendly Ghost was a middle-aged specter...

 ...encountering live teen "hep cats"?

This tale takes the concept to a literally-surreal level!

BTW, see how many pop-culture references you can understand without Googling them!

The Iger Comics Studio produced this tale for Ajax-Farrell's MadHouse V1N4 (1954), showing teen/young adult hipsters/hepcats encountering ghosts (apparently of middle-aged/older people) who didn't realize their attempts at creating ugly art and terrifying music resulted in cutting-edge popular culture!

When MAD became a surprise hit in 1953 (after the early issues lost money!) other comics publishers were quick to jump onto the bandwagon, eventually bringing out more than a dozen imitations with titles like FLIP, WHACK!, NUTS, EH!, UNSANE!, MADHOUSE/BUGHOUSE, and GET LOST!

These copiers realized that Will Elder’s cluttered “chicken fat” layouts were a major part of MAD’s success, and their pages were also densely-packed with all sorts of outlandish and bizarre gags!

Trivia: While most companies (like Ajax/Farrell) published just a single MAD imitation title, Atlas (the predecessor to Marvel) dove head-first into the fad, with no less than four titles, Snafu, WILD, RIOT, and Crazy!

These “parody comics” are uniquely 1950s catching the popular culture zeitgeist through a dual lens: not only reflecting '50s culture through parody but also being typical examples of that culture...ironically, in a way that MAD wasn't!

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The Sincerest Form of Parody

The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics

Friday Fun ZIP COMICS "Ginger and Her Haunted House Hokum!"

Yeah, it's my title for this untitled story...

...but I think you'll see it fits both subject and time period!

"I'd have gotten away with it if not for those pesky kids!"
Sound familiar?

Written by Ed Goggin, illustrated by Claire Moe, this never-reprinted tale from MLJ's Zip Comics #42 (1943) was, in many ways, a typical tale for the period.

Bad guys use "haunted" house as base of operations, kids who won't be scared off whup their butts!

(We ran a similar one, featuring fanboy SuperSnipe HERE!)
Ginger Snapp was one of a plethora of teen characters MLJ debuted in the 1940s that survived into the 1950s, even receiving her own title, running 10 issues!
Of course,you know the most popular of those characters since the company renamed itself in his honor...Archie!

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Ginger

Sweetheart of a Nation!