I love this portrait of the editorial staff of Trump magazine, one of the various ventures that Harvey Kurtzman embarked on after he left MAD Magazine in the mid-1950's.
Among those pictured are great comic book artists Wally Wood and Jack Davis, both of whom Kurtzman had worked with at EC Comics in the early 1950's. Wood was the boy wonder of comics, who really created the MAD parody style working for Kurtzman when he wrote and illustrated his classic "Superduperman" story, but he had a sad life in his later career and tragically shot himself in 1981.
As for Harvey, in one of the great self-portraits of someone willing to send himself up along with the rest of he world, he can be seen as the pair of feet jutting into the corner of the frame. Passed out on the "ink" that he and his fellow cartoonists have clearly been swilling!
william
I love the idea of Harvey's 'self-portrait', very humorous, and then again, not.
Posted by: Cat | August 04, 2009 at 08:00 AM