{"id":19404,"date":"2018-12-17T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=19404"},"modified":"2018-12-15T17:52:34","modified_gmt":"2018-12-15T17:52:34","slug":"harvey-kurtzmans-marleys-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2018\/12\/17\/harvey-kurtzmans-marleys-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Kurtzman’s Marley’s Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nAdapted by Harvey Kurtzman<\/strong> & expanded by Gideon Kendall<\/strong>, Josh O’Neill<\/strong>, Shannon Wheeler<\/strong> & various (ComiXology Originals)
\nNo ISBN, ASIN: B01LZAATMD<\/p>\n

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Reverential Revisitation of a Cornerstone Christmas Classic\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harvey Kurtzman is probably the most important cartoonist of the latter half of the last century – even more so than Jules Feiffer, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert or Will Eisner.<\/p>\n

His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Frontline Combat<\/strong>, Two-Fisted Tales<\/strong> and especially the groundbreaking, game-changing Mad<\/strong>) would be enough for most creators to lean back on, but Kurtzman was also a force in newspaper strips (Flash Gordon Complete Daily Strips<\/strong> 1951-1953) and a restless innovator, commentator and social critic who kept on looking at folk and their doings and just couldn’t stop making art or sharing his conclusions\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

He invented a whole new format when he converted the highly successful colour comicbook Mad<\/strong> into a black-&-white magazine, safely distancing the brilliant satirical publication from the fall-out caused by the 1950s comics witch-hunt which eventually killed all EC’s other titles.<\/p>\n

He then pursued comedy and social satire further with newsstand magazines Trump<\/strong>, Humbug <\/strong>and Help!<\/strong> all the while creating challenging and powerfully effective humour strips such as Little Annie Fanny<\/em> (for Playboy<\/strong>), Nutz<\/em>, Goodman Beaver, <\/em>Betsy and her Buddies<\/strong> and many more. He died far too soon, far too young in 1993.<\/p>\n

As recounted in Denis Kitchen’s appendix ‘The Origins of the Marley’s Ghost Graphic Novel’<\/em>, despite helming a huge and influential comicbook sensation, by 1954 Kurtzman was looking to expand the influence and appeal of the medium even further.<\/p>\n

Mad<\/strong> was reaching millions but he wanted to get to everybody and he wanted his efforts to be treated with respect\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

His notion was to adapt – properly, faithfully, and not as an abridged, bowdlerized kiddie’s version such as seen in Classics Illustrated<\/strong> – a global masterpiece of literature. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol <\/strong>was the perfect vehicle and Kurtzman feverishly set to in his spare time, producing more than 70 tightly laid out thumbnails and seven colour layouts, plus a complete page rendered by EC\/Mad<\/strong> comrade Jack Davis.<\/p>\n

The luxurious coffee-table book he’d envisioned foundered due to the timidity and short-sightedness of publishers – and quite possibly the toxic fug around comicbooks caused by Senate Hearings and Frederick Wertham’s hysterical campaign against teenage culture and fun\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Kurtzman shelved the project, but his papers and notes were discovered after his death and the result – adapted by writers Josh O’Neill & Shannon Wheeler and compellingly illustrated by Gideon Kendall – is a splendidly engaging addition to the novel’s legion of cross-media iterations. Just like Kurtzman knew it would be\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The tale is augmented here by Kurtzman’s original thumbnails and layouts, the Davis page and a wealth of development sketches generated by Kendall in completing the project.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Marley’s Ghost <\/strong>is even more groundbreaking than Kurtzman ever imagined. Released as a digital book, it has garnered acclaim and awards even before its inevitable transition to physical form\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 which means, as long as you’re connected you can buy this as the most literal of last-minute gifts\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The Story? It’s what you’d expect and want, all executed with warmth, with and sublime grace. Scrooge Mean. Ghosts! Revelations! Scared Scrooge! Change of Heart! Happies all around! God bless us every one!<\/p>\n

And if that was a spoiler in any manner, you have no right to be reading this review\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Here is a superb work long overdue and a comics god’s dream at long-last realised: a new old master of our art form no true devotee can afford to be without. And it’s fun and engaging enough to be an introducer to youngsters looking for comics to love.<\/p>\n

Marley’s Ghost <\/strong>as adapted by Harvey Kurtzman is published by Kitchen, Lind & Associates, LLC. Adaptation \u00c2\u00a9 2017 by Gideon Kendall, Josh O’Neill, & Kurtzman Properties LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adapted by Harvey Kurtzman & expanded by Gideon Kendall, Josh O’Neill, Shannon Wheeler & various (ComiXology Originals) No ISBN, ASIN: B01LZAATMD Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Reverential Revisitation of a Cornerstone Christmas Classic\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10 Harvey Kurtzman is probably the most important cartoonist of the latter half of the last century – even more so than Jules … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Harvey Kurtzman’s Marley’s Ghost”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,125,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","category-humour","category-satirepolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-52Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}