Today in Comics History, October 3: Happy birthday, Harvey Kurtzman!

Born on this day in 1924: the great Harvey Kurtzman, cartoonist and editor, founding editor of MAD, Humbug, and Help!, and writer/artist on so many great EC Comics and Timely's "Hey Look!".




from Harvey Kurtzman's Strange Adventures (Marvel/Epic (!), 1990), art by Harvey Kurtzman



He even wrote, designed, and storyboarded cartoons for Sesame Street!


"Pirate Ordering 20 Numbers Onto Boat" from Sesame Street, season 6, episode 14 (Children's Television Workshop, March 7, 1974), by Harvey Kurtzman
Even at EC, a company that produced more great creators within such a short history than probably any other comics company, Kurtzman stood out as a master.


from EC Comics cover-dated May 1952
The great EC artists are caricatured here, but as editor of the brand-new MAD, Kurtzman (upper left) gets to hold the mag!


from EC Comics cover-dated September 1952, lettering by Ben Oda
Here he is poppin' out of Santa Gaines's bag o' goodies:


from "The Night Before Christmas" in Panic #1 (EC, February 1954), pencils and inks by Bill Elder, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Jim Wroten
And in this EC Comics self-insertion text story, he's been boxed up and will no doubt be shipped to Abu Dhabi at any moment!


"The EC Caper" in Crime SuspenStories #15 (February 1953), text by Al Feldstein
Of course, Kurtzman is so influential to and vital in the history of comics that he frequently appears as a true-life character in historical autobio or bio comics.


from Comic Book Comics #3 (Evil Twin, February 2008), script by Fred Van Lente; pencils, inks, and letters by Ryan Dunlavey
R. Crumb recalls his encounters with Harvey:


from "Ode to Harvey Kurtzman" in Harvey Kurtzman's Strange Adventures (Marvel/Epic, 1990), by Robert Crumb
Altho' according to Peter Bagge's memories, maybe Harvey didn't feel quite the same way:


from "What's in a Name?" in Hate #30 (Fantagraphics, May 1998); script by Peter Bagge; pencils, inks, and letters by Danny Hellman
Granted, Bagge was portraying an elder Harvey Kurtzman, much later in life and closer to death.




Here's the first page of a great interview with Harvey by Will Eisner. You can find it in Eisner's Shop Talk book. (Amazon ad) (I highly recommend it!)


interview from The Spirit Magazine #31 (Kitchen Sink, October 1981)
Honestly, I highly recommend any serious fan or historian of comic art always pick up anything by or about Harvey Kurtzman. There's a wealth of great books (some sadly out of print, but you can still find 'em used) out there!


Harvey Kurtzman is an artist I didn't have the opportunity to discover in my very early days of fandom and collecting, but I've come to love his work and appreciate him tremendously. Every work is a wonder.


from Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book (Ballantine, 1959), by Harvey Kurtzman
Happy birthday, Harvey!