Will Elder Dies

[filkertom]

Sadness. Will Elder, one of the great early artists on Mad Magazine and co-creator (with Harvey Kurtzman) of Little Annie Fanny, has passed away at the age of 86. You'll recognize his style instantly.

What are some of your favorite bits in Mad? Yeah, yeah, I know, way too many. But list a few. I love the musical parodies, obviously (especially of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, Part 1), but I also have great fondness for Paul Coker, Jr., unbridled awe for the foldable back covers by Al Jaffee, immense love for the margin cartoons by Sergio Aragones, and absolute adoration for the works of Jack Davis and Mort Drucker. Head and shoulders above them all, however, is good ol' Don Martin. Two in particular stand out -- dunno the actual names, but you know 'em: Singin' In The Rain, and the Official Guide to Superhero Comic Sound Effects.

ETA: Fixed Paul Coker, Jr.'s name. Dunno why I thought it was Al, except maybe I had it momentarily confused with Al Roker....

Comments

[dave-ifversen.livejournal.com]

Snap - Ploobadoof!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

RRARRRRARGHHNARRGHRAARRRGH!

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Fadwap.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

"Spy vs. Spy" is what got me hooked on MAD as a kid.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

My memory of Mad is from 40+ years ago, but I think it contained some things that affect how I deal with the world today. I don't remember who was responsible, however.

1) "Horrifying Cliches" taught me to look past the obvious...and laugh at what was hiding there.
2) "Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions" taught me that when people were being socially-conditioned robots, I didn't necessarily have to play along.
3) And for some reason I remember their dismemberment of the movie "Hud", which didn't teach me anything. :-)

[pjhandley.livejournal.com]

How sad. I've appreciated his art for years...and yes, I probably spent way too much money on Mad Magazine as a kid, and still love to find the occasional one as an adult.

Poit.

[zeekar.livejournal.com]

Only Don Martin could come up with the sound effect "Poit".

As I recall, it was the sound of a breast popping out.

The Completely Mad Don Martin (http://www.amazon.com/MADs-Greatest-Artists-Completely-Martin/dp/0762430508/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1HQVB2WPJ5ZV0&colid=2W19MN12Q6P6C) has been on my Amazon wishlist for a while, but so far nobody has been willing to shell out the $100 for it on my behalf. Cheapskates, the lot of ya!

Will Elder's work in Mad was mostly before my time, but I remember going back and devouring old issues full of the stuff after they did a reprint of issue #1 and I saw how different it usedta been. Great stuff. And, of course, LAF was there in the Playboys I used to sneak a peek at (other boys' dads' collections; my dad is way too straight-and-narrow for that stuff).

Re: Poit.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Don Martin is God!

Re: Poit.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Pretty Good Goods (http://www.prettygoodgoods.org/) (the catalog store for A Prairie Home Companion) is currently having a 50% sale on a bunch of stuff, one of which is that very item, marked down to $75 (http://www.prettygoodgoods.org/product/show/28428).

Re: Poit.

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Fired off an order yesterday.

[ericcoleman]

Fester Bestertester and his pal Karbunkle.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, and Antonio Prohias are what made MAD so awesome for young me.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

Money!
Coming through in big enormous stacks!
Money!
From the sales of books and paperbacks!
Let's cheer those kids who go in hock
From buying dolls of Mr. Spock
Money comin' through, we love you!

(from the Star Trek Musical)

Love Mad. Need to get the CD ROM collection.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

There was a spread called "Ads We'd Like to See (but never will)", which included one for Nike. It showed a guy in a sweatshirt with the Nike logo and the statement, "I give free advertising to multi-million-dollar companies!"

I have never worn a "branded" item since the day I saw that.

[malada.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the artist but a looooong time ago there was a bit about how Americans would lose the war with Communist China. It involved us sitting around watching too much television and eating potato chips until our legs became little tiny useless things. We'd mostly get around on little motorized vehicles and we became rotund and round enough that the Commies would just push us over like those inflatable clowns.

Now that it's come true it's not as funny.

-m

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Captain Klutz!

So in the days of my misspent post-college youth, I served for a few weeks as the receptionist at Marvel Productions. Dave Berg came to visit one day. I had never met the man before but I recognized him instantly, and did not hesitate to tell him why. He really did look just like himself!

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Sent MAD's MADdest Writer, Dick Debartolo, word of the death via Twitter. Also sent to Leo Laporte (head TWiT).

[lizreay.livejournal.com]

Funny...the first contact I had with his art was actually Little Annie Fanny. Pop had a bad habit of leaving his Playboys where I could find them. My parents found this out when I got busted telling a joke from one in kindergarten. (Had no idea why it was funny, but it was on the joke page, so obviously...) I guess he didn't think much of it because he actually WAS reading it for the articles. I didn't read a MAD Magazine until I was 11 or 12.

[woyro.livejournal.com]

wasnt his name PAUL Coker, Jr? i seem to remember it being Paul since 1) thats MY first name and 2) he's one of my fave MAD contributors. i have the MAD cd-rom box set here on my desk, so i can access all issues up til '98.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Indeed. You're right, and I'll fix it.

[filkferengi]

The very first con we ever went to [Magnum Opus Con VII in 1992] had Sergio Aragones for my lawyerspouse [and Roger Zelazny telling plagiarism stories]. For me there was Marion Zimmer Bradley, Carole Nelson Douglas, and a nice, soft-spoken, redhaired author named Lois McMaster Bujold.