Friday Fun CRAZY "Hollywood Extra"

With the movie industry retrenching as audiences continue to not return to theaters...

...let's take a satirical look at how the film industry reacted the first time that phenomenon happened!

Writer Stan Lee and illustrator Russ Heath show, in this never-reprinted story from Atlas' MAD comic clone Crazy V1N7 (1954), that the movie business was losing customers to the then-new entertainment technology of television...and that was with TVs that had 15 inch (or less) screens and had only black-and-white transmissions (even when they broadcast color movies)!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Hickory and Dickory Help the Easter Bunny"

Though the rodent duo in this tale are named after the classic nursery rhyme "Hickory, Dickory, Dock"...

...the rhyme featured only a single, anonymous, mouse...and there's no one named "Dock" in the story!

Walt (Pogo) Kelly scripted and illustrated this story from Dell's Four Color Comics #220: Easter with Mother Goose (1949), which was the mouse duo's second (and last) appearance!

The first was several months earlier, in Dell's Four Color Comics #201: Christmas with Mother Goose (1948), where they assisted (as you might have guessed) Santa Claus!

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Exciting Easter

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Monday Madness CRAZY, MAN, CRAZY "Pocket Book Covers"

How do we get today's would-be readers to actually read the "classics"?

Do what artist Vince Fodera and an unknown writer suggest in this never-reprinted two-page spread from Charlton's MAD Magazine clone Crazy Man Crazy V2N2 (1956)...

BTW, "pocket books" were how what we now call mass-market paperbacks were referred to until the 1960s!

In fact, the first American mass-market publisher to use the format (in 1939) was named "Pocket Books"...a name they utilize to this day!

Who says comics ain't educational???

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Friday Fun ZANY "Li'l Abnrr"

Unseen since 1959, a look at how comics...

...and by extension, media in general, change to reflect pop culture trends!

Comics, in particular, jump on the latest fad, sometimes revamping the book or strip almost beyond recognition!
The classic example was the mid-1960s "New Blackhawk era", when the middle-aged WWII veteran flyers, published continuously since 1942, became superhero/spies...because the two hottest pop culture trendsetters at the time were Batman and Bond!
(Think I'm joking?
You can read the transition story beginning HERE!)
BTW, both the artist who did a dead-on imitation of Al Capp's style and the scripter for this never-reprinted Li'l Abner spoof (with a cameo by creator Al Capp himself) from Candar's Zany #4 (1959) are unknown!

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Li'l Abner: the Frazetta Years Vol 1

Legendary artist Frank Frazetta ghost-illustrated the Sunday strip from 1954 to 1961!

Easter Reading Room EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE "Mother Hubbard's Cupboard"

It's March!

Spring is, well, springing, and Easter is only a few weeks away!

So, we're going to be presenting some kool never (or very rarely) reprinted holiday goodies by Walt (Pogo) Kelly and others!

Written and illustrated by Walt Kelly, this never-reprinted feature from Dell's Four Color Comics #220: Easter with Mother Goose (1949) was typical of Kelly's holiday offerings.

Either retell a fairy tale or nursery rhyme with added holiday elements, or craft a new tale based on the characters!

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Exciting Easter

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Monday Madness LUNATICKLE "Horrible Comic Story Behind the Horror Story Comic Books!"

I'll let the original editors introduce you to today's Monday Madness...

"This, then, is the true tale of the Comic Book Industry’s brief but shocking plunge into the Witches Brew of gore and bloodshed.

Presented herewith is an authentic documentary of how it came about and how it ended—And how it ended!
The names, dates, and places given are all factual and for real! Any reference to certain persons is strictly intentional,

Only the prices have been changed because it’s after five o’clock!
-the editors"

Created by two horror comics veterans; writer Jack Mendelsohn and illustrator Lee Elias (in a very Jack Davis-esque style), this never-reprinted story from the second (and final) issue of Whitestone Publishing's short-lived MAD magazine clone Lunatickle is a bittersweet, but amazingly-accurate look at how the comics industry almost disappeared in the mid-1950s!

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Ten-Cent Plague

The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Friday Fun THIS MAGAZINE IS CRAZY "Fact Realism vs TV is 'em Real"

Old West humor, illustrated by the legendary Jack Davis...

...but NOT from MAD!

It's from Charlton's This Magazine is CRAZY! V4N8, a MAD imitator which lasted only seven issues!

Both as a color comic and a b/w magazine, MAD inspired many imitators.

Some, like Cracked, are going even today (albeit on-line, not in print).
Others, like This Magazine is CRAZY, were short-lived, but able, from time to time, to get work from MAD's regular contributors, almost all of whom were freelancers.
This particular piece from 1959 apparently was a satirical response to TV's sanitizing the images of both cowboys and Indians in ongoing series.
Westerns were the most popular scripted genre at the time, dominating almost half of both the prime time and syndicated schedules.
The writer is, regrettably, unknown but it could be Davis himself, who utilized this format in both issues of his own short-lived color comic humor anthology Yak Yak, as seen HERE and HERE!

The writer is, regrettably, unknown.

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Space...Hero?...Saturdays STRANGE JOURNEY "Captain Kiddeo Space Bum"

Is it humor?

Is it serious?

I can't decide...

...read the tale and judge for yourself!

The title is a variation of "Captain Video", a tv show which had been cancelled three years earlier when this never-reprinted tale appeared in Ajax-Farrell's Strange Journey #3 (1958).

Yet the story itself has nothing to do with Captain Video, not even as a spoof of it, like MAD's superb Captain Tvideo which you can read HERE!

The attempts at humor and wit are lacking in both, and the illustrations have none of the wonderful background detail (Called "chicken fat" by artist Will Elder) MAD's artists were famous for!

Plus, the art is so jammed-up, I have the impression the original (perhaps unpublished) story was longer, and re-edited to fit into the 5 page slot in an otherwise average sci-fi anthology.

We do know it's a product of the S M Iger Studio which packaged Ajax-Farrell's books, but not who the particular creatives were...

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Taylor Illustrated History

Science Fiction Comics 

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Friday Fun ABBOTT & COSTELLO "Justin Tyme the World's Best Grocery Clerk in 'Gorilla My Dreams' "

In Japan, manga about people in everyday jobs are quite common...and popular!

Here in America, they're rarely successful, no matter how well-done!

Illustrated (and possibly written) by Charles W Winter (as "C W Winter"), this feature from St John's Abbott & Costello Comics #8 (1949) was Justin Tyme's second, and last, original appearance>
(The story was reprinted later in A&C's run.).
The idea of having to do something silly if you get an incorrect answer on a game show started in radio, and carried over to TV, where it continues to the present day!