Humor Magazines - PLOP!

PLOP! Sept/Oct 1973 - #24 Nov/Dec 1976 National Periodicals Publications DC

Billed as "The magazine of weired humor" PLOP! had a variety of great talent from Sergio Aragones who incidentally came up with the name "PLOP!" (for more on PLOPs' origins check out "The THWAK Bonfore of Insanity Collection" 128 page trade paperback under "The Carmine Infantino - THWAK Chat" as well as the 3 main characters Cain, Abel and Eve who often introduced various features, Basil Wolverton who provided most of the cover artwork, Wally Wood who did both covers and interiors, Dave Manak, Bernie Wrightson and many more!

The concept was a humor/horror magazine/comic and although an anomaly, lasted 24 issues. Earlier issues did not contain any advertising but slow sales proved it a necessity. A very enjoyable magazine. I sure wish that a full blown trade paperback of the entire run would be issued. Now that would be a treat for those of us who remembered reading this back in the 70's as well as connecting with new readers.

Humor Magazines - NUTS

NUTS June 1997 - ? NUTS Magazine Inc.

Back in '97 it was a breath of fresh air to finally see a humor magazine on glossy pages in color (heck it only took 40 years to revive this concept from back in '57 when Harvy Kurtzman did it with TRUMP!!!). NUTS was a product of Canada and only a few issues were distributed stateside. The style and feel of the material is much more European in nature being more reminiscent of France's Fluide Glacial than MAD some of which being a little more riske than any US mag would have dared put out at that time. Each issue had a pull out poster in the center of the magazine which was a nice touch. It was a pity when all of a sudden it was unavailable. Again this could be related to its $2.95 cover price which was again above that of MAD & CRACKED even though it was in color!

An interesting side note is that during my stint as Co-editor at CRACKED owner Dick Kulpa contemplated using some material/artists from the NUTS although that never materialized.

One more little tidbit is that this was the second time that the name NUTS was used for a humor magazine. The first being in 1958 lasting 2 issues.

Humor Magazines - JAB

JAB Spring 1993 - ? Cummings Design Group

JAB was certainly an interesting magazine, published in Birmingham Alabama, I believe it may have only been available to that market. This publication was the brainchild of artist Frank Cummings (incidentally certainly one of my favorites!) who went on to work for CRACKED and later for the Richard Simmons Organization. It consisted of a variety of typical humor pieces sandwiched between plenty of advertising with artwork done by one of the 4 contributing artists to the magazine. This concept predates MAD magazine's eventual reliance on advertising by a number of years.

It is a quality magazine printed on 50 lb paper in the interior and seemed to be an interesting concept to that particular market. The issue pictured here is from Spring '94 and was the 5th published, I'm not sure if any more exist.

Humor Magazines - WACKO

WACKO - Sept 1980 #1 - Oct 1981 #3 Ideal Publishing Co.

After Paul Laikin moved on from his involvement with CRAZY he and a number of CRAZY artists started this magazine which is virtually indistinguishable from earlier CRAZY magazines. Artists such as my buddy Kent Gamble, Murad Gumen (who did this great cover), Al Scaduto, Charles Nicholas, Tony Tallarico, Arnoldo Franchioni, Bill Burke, Vic Martin and writer Andy Lamberti had all contributed to CRAZY and many of them would continue their working relationship with Laikin when he moved to CRACKED later in the mid 80's.

Wacko would be the only new addition to the humor magazine field in the 80's. I believe that all 3 issues were 80 pages at $1.25 and may have been more than folks were willing to pay for a humor magazine as MAD was still .75c at this time.

JACK DAVIS humor magazine output

When it comes to sheer output of work I think it would be hard pressed for many humorous illustrators/artists to rival Jack Davis. Jack Davis' art fit perfectly into MAD with its humorous slant and exaggerated motion it is no wonder that his work was so sought after. When Harvey Kurtsman left MAD to join Hugh Hefner and launch TRUMP Jack Davis was one of the artists that followed him. Similarly when that project died after only 2 issues Jack was one of a few that started HUMBUG which lasted 11 issues until late 1958. After that Jack started drawing for a myriad of publishers and their magazines from SICK to CRACKED to YAK YAK (which incidentally was written and illustrated by him). After much roaming Jack finally returned to MAD illustrating a piece on monsters in '69.

Above are just a few covers to some of these publications.

A "Flocked" Johnny West

A Johnny West experiment with compliments from Don Coffee and his "Flocking machine" at this year's JOElanta toy show. I really like the way it came out.

I love the smell of "Plastic" in the morning!

As you have probably guessed by now, I love toys! Especially vintage 60's & 70's boxed versions. It's just something about that great artwork and those graphics that were so reminiscent of a different era. This collection is a recent acquisition that will undoubtedly make it's way into "The Cody Lane Toy and Diorama Museum" (see the link on www.joelanta.com ) one day.

The list from the top:

Princess Wildflower, Fighting Eagle, Chief Cherokee, Sam Cobra, Sheriff Garret & Capt. Maddox. All figures are mint, containing a variety of accessories and paperwork by Marx toys.

Next are some loose figures, including a quick draw Johnny and combo Thunderbolt box plus some fixer uppers. Pulsar, Mohamed Ali & Steve Scout (mint). Bionic Woman, Six Million Dollar Man, Dr Maskatron & Oscar Goldman (all mint except the good Dr.). Carded Lone Ranger outfits, MIB Silver and some loose figures.

I'm certainly looking forward to going through this all with a fine tooth comb and learning about the different company's that put these enduring action figures out.