{"id":34976,"date":"2026-02-21T11:55:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34976"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:55:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:55:41","slug":"harvey-kurtzmans-strange-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/02\/21\/harvey-kurtzmans-strange-adventures\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvey Kurtzman\u2019s Strange Adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Harvey Kurtzman<\/strong>, Art Spiegelman<\/strong>, Moebius<\/strong>, R. Crumb<\/strong>, Eric Palma<\/strong>, William Stout<\/strong>, Sergio Aragon\u00e9s<\/strong> & Tom Luth<\/strong>, Tomas Bunk<\/strong>, Rick Geary<\/strong>, Dave Gibbons<\/strong>, Sarah Downs<\/strong> & various (Epic Comics\/A Byron Preiss Book
\nISBN: 978-0-87135-675-8 (Album HB)<\/p>\n

This book contains Discriminatory Content<\/strong> included for satirical and dramatic effect.<\/em><\/p>\n

Creative genius 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. His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Frontline Combat<\/strong>, Two-Fisted Tales<\/strong> and especially the groundbreaking, game-changing Mad<\/strong> comic book) would be enough for most creators to lean back on, but Kurtzman was also a force in newspaper strips (Flash Gordon Complete <\/strong>1951-1953) and a restless innovator, commentator and social critic who kept on looking at folk and their doings. He just couldn\u2019t stop making art or sharing his conclusions…<\/p>\n

Kurtzman invented a whole new format when he converted the highly successful colour comic book Mad<\/strong> into a monochrome magazine, safely distancing the brilliant satirical publication from the fallout caused by the 1950s comics witch-hunt which eventually killed EC\u2019s other titles. He then pursued comedy and social satire further with newsstand magazines Trump <\/strong>(no relation to any orange tossers!), Humbug <\/strong>and Help!<\/strong> – all the while creating challenging and powerfully effective humour strips like Little Annie Fanny<\/em> (for Playboy<\/strong>), Nutz<\/strong>, Goodman Beaver<\/strong>, <\/em>Betsy and her Buddies<\/strong> and many more. He died far too soon, far too young today in 1993.<\/p>\n

Utterly unavailable in digital editions, this intriguing oddment from 1990 saw the Great Observer return to his comic roots to spoof and lambaste strip characters, classic cinema and contemporary sentiments in a series of vignettes illustrated by some of the biggest names of the day. Following a captivating introduction from ex-student Art Spiegelman, a stunning pin-up from Moebius and an overview from project coordinator Byron Preiss, the fun begins with a typically upbeat cartoon appreciation from R. Crumb: \u2018Ode to Harvey Kurtzman\u2019<\/em> which was coloured by Eric Palma, after which the Harvey-fest begins in earnest…<\/p>\n

\u2018Shmegeggi of the Cave Men\u2019<\/em> visually revives the author\u2019s legendary Goodman Beaver<\/em>, dislocating him to that mythic antediluvian land of dim brutes, hot babes in fur bikinis and marauding dinosaurs, to take a look at how little sexual politics has progressed in a million years – all exquisitely painted by cartoonist, movie artist and paleontological illustrator William Stout, after which Sergio Aragon\u00e9s adds his inimitable mania to the stirring piratical shenanigans of the dashing \u2018Captain Bleed\u2019<\/em> (with striking hues supplied by Groo <\/strong>accomplice Tom Luth).<\/p>\n

Western parody \u2018Drums Along the Shmohawk\u2019<\/em> is an all-Kurtzman affair as the scribe picks up his pens and felt-tips to describe how the sheriff and his stooge paid a little visit to the local tribe…
\n\"\"
\nCartoonist, fine artist and illustrator Tomas Bunk contributes a classically underground and exuberant job depicting \u2018A Vampire Named Mel\u2019<\/em> whilst arch-stylist Rick Geary helps update the most famous canine star in history with \u2018Sassy, Come Home\u2019. <\/em>Limey Living Legend Dave Gibbons utilises his too-seldom-seen gift for comedy by aiding and abetting in what we Brits term \u201ca good kicking\u201d to the superhero genre in the outrageous romp \u2018The Silver Surfer\u2019<\/em> before the cartoon buffoonery concludes with Kurtzman and long-time associate Sarah Downs smacking a good genre while it\u2019s down and dirty in \u2018Halloween, or the Legend of Creepy Hollow\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But wait, there\u2019s more…<\/p>\n

This seductive oversized hardback also has an abundant section devoted to creator biographies supplemented with pages and pages of Kurtzman\u2019s uniquely wonderful pencil rough script pages – almost like having the stories printed twice.<\/p>\n

Fun, philosophical fantasy and fabulous famous, artist folk: what more do you need to know – other than that SOMEone should re-release tis ASAP?
\n\u00a9 1990 by Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. Each strip \u00a9 1990 Harvey Kurtzman and the respective artist. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1922 British comics artist (Bennie<\/em> & Barley Bottom<\/em>) and social redeemer Derek Chittock<\/strong> was born, with Belgian comics maven Ren\u00e9 Hausman<\/strong> (La\u00efyna<\/em>), following in 1936 and fantasy illustrator Frank<\/strong> (Doctor Strange<\/strong>, Howard the Duck<\/strong>, Creepy<\/strong>) Brunner<\/strong> arriving in 1949. In 1963 manhua creator Khoo Fuk Lung<\/strong> (Saint<\/strong>) was born, with comics\/screenwriter Christopher Yost<\/strong> coming in 1973 and Bryan Lee O’Malley <\/strong>(Scott Pilgrim, Seconds, Snotgirl<\/strong>) in 1979.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Harvey Kurtzman, Art Spiegelman, Moebius, R. Crumb, Eric Palma, William Stout, Sergio Aragon\u00e9s & Tom Luth, Tomas Bunk, Rick Geary, Dave Gibbons, Sarah Downs & various (Epic Comics\/A Byron Preiss Book ISBN: 978-0-87135-675-8 (Album HB) This book contains Discriminatory Content included for satirical and dramatic effect. Creative genius Harvey Kurtzman is probably the most … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Harvey Kurtzman\u2019s Strange Adventures”<\/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":[113,290,413,66,125,361,242,111,107,157,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-dinosaurs","category-harvey-kurtzman","category-horror-stories","category-humour","category-moebius","category-pirates","category-satirepolitics","category-science-fiction","category-silver-surfer","category-westerns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-968","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34976","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=34976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34979,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34976\/revisions\/34979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}