Today on the site:
The "Anti-War" comics of Harvey Kurtzman by Bob Levin.
Kurtzman stood somewhat apart at EC. He considered horror comics “immoral.” (What he thought about the others was probably not much more positive.) His reputation today primarily rests upon his having created, edited and written the first twenty-four issues of the satiric humor comic MAD, whose impact on a generation used to the cozy cliches and platitudes of the Eisenhower Age was immeasurable. (After leaving EC, Kurtzman launched three unsuccessful humor mags, Trump, Humbug, and Help, before settling in at Playboy, where he created and wrote “Little Annie Fanny” for twenty-one years, providing stimulation of a different sort.) But before any of this, at EC, Kurtzman produced what have been recognized as the first “anti-war” war comics. With them, the novelist/ newspaper columnist Pete Hamill once wrote, Kurtzman “revolutionized the form…. (His) combat stories were hard, bleak, free of rah-rah patriotism. They were about men, not costumed superheroes.”
Elsewhere:
People, people, the great Brian Ralph is on tour for Reggie-12, which is a great oversized collection of the excellent comic strip. Go get the book. Go see Brian.
SEATTLE, WA: Saturday September 7th, 6pm
Fantagraphics Bookstore, 1201 South Vale St. (at Airport Way S.)
PORTLAND, OR: Sunday, September 8th, 6pm
Floating World, 400 NW Couch St.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Tuesday, September 10th, 6pm
Mission: Comics and Art, 3520 20th St. Suite B
LOS ANGELES, CA: Wednesday, September 11th, 7pm
The Secret Headquarters, 3817 W Sunset Blvd
BETHESDA, MD: Saturday September 14th and Sunday September 15th
Small Press Expo, Bethesda North Marriott Hotel, 5701 Marinelli Rd.
AND:
The Sequential Arts Workshop announces its low residency program.
Johanna Draper Carlson on Polly and Her Pals.
Evan Dorkin on some personal icons.
A visit to the Stan Lee Papers in Wyoming.
And interview with Gene Yang.
And finally, fittingly, an asteroid has been named for Alejandro Jodorowsky. Well alright.
