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Author:
Title: MAD No. 1
Place Published:
Publisher:EC [Indicia: Educational Comics, Inc.]
Date Published: October-November, 1952
Description:

CGC certified: VF- (7.5). Off-white to white pages. Cover: Harvey Kurtzman. Scripts: H. Kurtzman. Art: Will Elder, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, H. Kurtzman, John Severin. GPAnalysis: A 7.5 sold for $3699 in February 2021.

Potrezebie is the Mother of Invention: Harvey Kurtzman was miffed that Al Feldstein made lots more loot than he did, despite the grueling effort Kurtzman put into writing and editing his two EC mags, compared to Feldstein's relative ease at cranking out stories for the seven titles he edited. Bill Gaines suggested a money-making solution: EC would launch a new title for Kurtzman to edit, thus boosting his pay by 50%. The result was sheer MADness.

"Kurtzman came back with a proposal for a satire magazine, one that would lampoon the comics themselves.... Kurtzman brought his small crew of artists, with whom he had been working on his war titles for a year and a half, to the project.... The look and writing were wild, a combination of the outrageousness and violence of Tex Avery's animated cartoons with the polyethnic dialogue and logic of George Herriman's Krazy Kat." — Maria Reidelbach, Completely MAD: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine. Little, Brown: 1991, pp. 20-21.

A limited edition of 150 softcover and 15 hardcover catalogues is available. 400 lots, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcover $30, deluxe hardcover with dust jacket and limitation plate $200. Ten of the 15 hardcovers are pre-ordered and the rest will go quickly, so reserve yours now. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's December 2021 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.