Introducing ... Will Elder weekends!
As part of my continuous (and continuously failing) effort to get some content onto this blog, I'm kicking off a year-long series in honor of my all-time favorite cartoonist, Will Elder.
Huzzah! Huzzah!
Elder, one of the original artists on Harvey Kurtzman's Mad and a lifelong collaborator with Kurtzman, died in 2008, but his legacy remains secure. His work on Mad alone makes him a pop culture icon, but he also created amazing drawings (and paintings!) for Kurtzman's later magazines, including Humbug, Help and Trump. And, of course, he worked with his old friend Harvey for decades on the Playboy comic strip "Little Annie Fanny." As satire goes, it was a step down from Kurtzman's earlier efforts, but as far as the art goes, it was often among Elder's best.
So, to mark the man's recent birthday (Sept. 22 -- I can't be timely with anything on this blog, can I?), I'm going to post something by Will Elder each weekend. Many of the early pieces will be from those classic Mad comic book days, but I'm planning to cover his entire career -- and it was a long, rich (and very funny) one.
First up, a panel from my favorite Will Elder story and, I'd argue, one of the greatest pieces of pop culture satire of all time. It's from Mad #12, released way back in 1954, with script (of course) by Harvey Kurtzman. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the comic that scarred me for life (in the best possible way) when I first read it in fourth grade, "Starchie"....
Like most (all?) Elder panels, this one has a ton of stuff going on, but I especially like how Elder draws Biddy and Salonica. Not only are identical (which is the main joke of the panel) and not only are they inappropriately attractive (which keys off the wonderful seediness of the entire strip), but they're draw in a way no high school comic book girls are ever drawn -- namely with bad skin and acne... you know, just like real high school girls! It's a small thing, but it's the sort of thing that elevated Elder's art past a mere imitation. He really brought something more to the equation -- something that made the original look different (and usually fake) in comparison.
Huzzah! Huzzah!
Elder, one of the original artists on Harvey Kurtzman's Mad and a lifelong collaborator with Kurtzman, died in 2008, but his legacy remains secure. His work on Mad alone makes him a pop culture icon, but he also created amazing drawings (and paintings!) for Kurtzman's later magazines, including Humbug, Help and Trump. And, of course, he worked with his old friend Harvey for decades on the Playboy comic strip "Little Annie Fanny." As satire goes, it was a step down from Kurtzman's earlier efforts, but as far as the art goes, it was often among Elder's best.
So, to mark the man's recent birthday (Sept. 22 -- I can't be timely with anything on this blog, can I?), I'm going to post something by Will Elder each weekend. Many of the early pieces will be from those classic Mad comic book days, but I'm planning to cover his entire career -- and it was a long, rich (and very funny) one.
First up, a panel from my favorite Will Elder story and, I'd argue, one of the greatest pieces of pop culture satire of all time. It's from Mad #12, released way back in 1954, with script (of course) by Harvey Kurtzman. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the comic that scarred me for life (in the best possible way) when I first read it in fourth grade, "Starchie"....
Like most (all?) Elder panels, this one has a ton of stuff going on, but I especially like how Elder draws Biddy and Salonica. Not only are identical (which is the main joke of the panel) and not only are they inappropriately attractive (which keys off the wonderful seediness of the entire strip), but they're draw in a way no high school comic book girls are ever drawn -- namely with bad skin and acne... you know, just like real high school girls! It's a small thing, but it's the sort of thing that elevated Elder's art past a mere imitation. He really brought something more to the equation -- something that made the original look different (and usually fake) in comparison.
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