Kids-who made up most of the comic book readership-had lots of choices, and there was no telling whether a humor comic would succeed. Roughly 3250 comics were published that year, with over 60 different titles hitting the newsstands every week. It was something different, and in the comics market of 1952, different was important.
Alfred e neuman series#
Each issue would have a series of stories poking fun at popular genres like horror, Westerns, and superhero titles, with Kurtzman using many of the same artists, including Jack Davis and Wallace Wood, that EC used for their conventional titles. What we do know is that Kurtzman wanted to do something new at the time-a comic book that made fun of other comic books. Gaines said that he and other editors had referred to EC Comics as “EC’s mad mags” for their bombastic approach, and that Kurtzman had merely taken the phrase and shortened it.
The two never even agreed on who named it Mad. Kurtzman insisted a humor comic was his idea. The historical record gets a little murky when it comes to who exactly came up with the idea for Mad. Kurtzman wanted an opportunity to be funny, and to make more money doing it. And as much as he loved his combat stories, EC Comics wasn’t exactly known for their deep pockets. He had spent years illustrating humor comics, including a stint working for Marvel mastermind Stan Lee. While Kurtzman examined serious topics, he wasn’t that serious a guy. With the Korean War raging and the experiences of his many fans in the military to draw from, Kurtzman told stories that examined the human price of war. After a series of odd jobs, Kurtzman landed at EC Comics, where his approach to popular war titles was more thoughtful than most of the stories being published at the time.
Alfred e neuman professional#
His name was Harvey Kurtzman, and he was a very talented writer and artist who had finished military service and was looking to become a professional illustrator. Beheadings and other gore made them a little bit like the slasher movies of their day.īut Gaines had one employee who thought comics could do better. Founded by Maxwell Gaines in 1944 and later run by his son William Gaines, EC was the publisher behind grisly titles like Tales From the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. How did comics get such a bad rap? While characters like Superman and Batman were viewed with suspicion, adults were really fixated on crime and horror comics like the ones published by EC Comics. But in the 1950s, adults generally perceived them as hot dumpster trash that would rot kids’ brains. Today, comic books are the source material for movies that gross billions of dollars.
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