Wheezer Society

MAD About History

VIA Mark Evanier's website:
In May of 1968, MAD Magazine went to press with a political cover — a Norman Mingo painting featuring line art caricatures by Mort Drucker. Drucker drew the eight most prominent politicians in the country at that moment...basically the guys actively competing for the presidency plus President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson had announced he would not stand for re-election but a lot of folks thought he still planned to swoop down on the convention and somehow wrest a re-nomination.

The proofs of MAD #122 had just come off the presses on June 5 when Robert Kennedy was assassinated. The MAD guys decided it would be inappropriate to leave Bobby on their cover so they made a quick substitution, replacing him with a drawing of Alfred. Collector Steve Kuhn recently came across some copies of the "before" cover and he was nice enough to let me share one here. Just a little piece of history.

The Addams Chronicles

I give up Robert. What does have two horns, one eye and creeps?

The Word of God Drawn By God

Besides "The Gang of Usual Idiots at MAD Magazine", the strongest influence on my drawing style is Robert Crumb. To me, he's a God. An icon of creativity that does not follow convention, says and draws what he feels, with no reservations. Totally true to himself. While I may not agree with his interpretations or views, his artwork is flawless. Each piece stands alone.

For the past five years, holed-up in his home in France, R. Crumb has been working on cartoon-izing (aka illustrating) the entire Book of Genesis. Yes, as he states on the book "All 50 Chapters". I've not seen the entire book, but the images I have seen are amazing. Crumb draws very quickly, with a minimum of revisions. His execution of ink to paper is definite and defiant at the same time. What you see is what you get.

So, when it comes time to illustrate the three sons on Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth who else does Crumb draw the likeness of but Shemp, Larry and Moe. Of course! Make perfect Crumb sense.


This new Crumb visual interpretation of the Bible has drawn criticism and comments from every nook and cranny of religious leaders. The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who writes about pop culture and who has seen excerpts of the book, says "I just think it's fantastic that a protean mind like R. Crumb is translating the Bible into a new language, a new idiom. Just as was done with the Vulgate (a popularized translation in the fifth century) or the Latin." "Yes, there's some stuff there that's a little lascivious, but that's R. Crumb. The Bible is the world's oldest soap opera, filled with sex, violence and rape, particularly the Old Testament."

While Crumb has never admitted to being a Christian, he states in an interview with USA Today, "I'm a spiritual guy. I'm not an atheist, more an agnostic."

Glengarry Glen Comics

The Harvey Awards, named for cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman where recently held and the event opened with this great video, a spoof on the classic Glengarry Glen Ross scene with Alex Baldwin

Harvey Awards Animation from Monkey and Tiger on Vimeo.

View larger version here

Gahan Wilson

Another year-round favorite, Gahan Wilson. Much more rich at Halloweenie.

Charles Addams

In honor of Halloween, the posts for the month of October will be sprinkled with monsters and mayhem. Love this one from cartoonist Charles Addams.

Time Capsule

It seems that dealing with the death of a close friend makes you somewhat nostalgic. I've been reviewing some of artwork produced by neil, Steve and myself back in the No-Jive Comix days (pretty much anything pre-1985). He's a sample from sitting in Mr Richard's psychology class back at Hilhi in 1973.
I will find some more stuff from Neil to share.

Family Circle Jerk - Mommy, Look!

For more FCJ fun, visit the Family Circle Jerk website

Happy Birthday Sergio Aragones!

(cartoon by Sergio)

The Real Popeye

Unearthed from a vault deep in the Thimble Theatre archives, buried in a crawl space underneath the Segar homestead. Could this be the REAL person that the comic strip character Popeye is based on?
Could be, but it's not. Just an illustration by Rick Baker.