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GRADING THE MILLENIUM: MAD #1 / PLOP #1
MAD #1 PLOP #1 Reviewed by Alex Bernstein
HOOHAH!
MAD, first published in 1952 by EC
Comics, was uniquely the vision of one man: Harvey Kurtzman. Following his
successful TWO- FISTED TALES, MAD
would prove to be Kurtzman's most fertile playgound. Like "Saturday Night Live" to the
television industry in '75, MAD was a
shot in comics' arm. Consistently, painfully funny. Irreverent. Intensely detailed. Adult, even. Where else could it
come from, but EC? A company whose entire line-up danced at the
edge of correctness.
Every artist in the first issue was a shining star, confident in his talents:
Jack Davis, Wally Wood, John Severin, and especially, Will Elder. Was there
ever a greater humor artist
than Will Elder? Kurtzman pushed his boys to cram as much comic excess into every
panel. Even the most unnoticeable bits are stellar: the mouse trapped in a
bottle in "Ganefs"; the box marked "Stan Lee Co. War Suplus"
in "Varmints"; Galusha clinging to the panel border for dear life
in "Hoohah"; everything in "Blobs."
But by 1956, MAD, as a color comic, was
over. With the advent of the Comics Code Authority, MAD
survived by transforming itself into a black-and-white "adult" magazine. Ironic, as the
material became more and more diluted and, eventually, juvenile.
The Millennium Edition introductory notes say, "by
the second issue the comic's unique brand of humor started to exhibit
itself." But the uniqueness, clarity and detail are all right here in issue #1.
Perhaps the actual stories in MAD #1 - each a simple, genre tale - are
limited. But in execution, the book as a whole is pure candy.
While MAD was Kurtzman's baby,
PLOP, first published in 1973, was 50% Joe Orlando (former EC
artist and successful editor of DC's '70's mystery books), 45% Sergio Aragones
and a nice, healthy 5% of Steve Skeates, Berni Wrightson and others. And the
covers: unbridaled Basil Wolverton (and Wally Wood) for the first 20 issues! But while MAD was about parody and spoof, PLOP was about horror. Mel Brooks once
described the fine line between comedy and tragedy: "If it happens to you, it's comedy. If it happens to me, it's tragedy." That, in a nutshell, is the entire philosophy behind PLOP. Something bad - grossly horrible, even - happens
to someone and they get "Plopped." Funny stuff. Most of the time.
Our hosts, Cain, Abel and Eve (from the other DC mystery
books) laugh heartily at the misfortunes of others, until the last page of every
issue when they get "Plopped" themselves. (Although, you'd think Abel'd be used
to it by now, with his track record.)
Breaking new ground at the time, PLOP
, was a breath of fresh (?) air from all
the other books on the stands. Most of the stories are truly funny, especially when
drawn by Sergio Aragones. Extremely famous for his MAD
magazine work, Aragones' light, cartoony touch always offset the material's creepy underside.
On the other hand, the tales drawn by the true horror-oriented artists could
be literally terrifying.
Case in point, the final
story in PLOP #1, "The Gourmet." Just when you think the book's
light and harmless, Steve Skeates and Berni Wrightson serve up (a-hem) one of
the most disturbing stories in any DC horror mag, ever
. This one really did give me nightmares the first time.
And it's still great and freaky, today. (Let's just say you'll never be ordering
frog legs again.)
PLOP
was a great, weird comic, years ahead of its time. And I bought every
issue of it.
No
wonder the other kids looked at me funny.
Both Books Highly Recommended
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