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Here's a piece I did a few years ago for RELAY FOR LIFE in Atlanta Ga.

Humor Magazines - JUDGE

JUDGE 1881-1947 JUDGE Publishing Inc.

This long running humor magazine came into being after a number of cartoonists and artists left PUCK magazine. James Wakes, one of the cartoonists left after having a quarrel with PUCK's founder Joeseph Keppler and started JUDGE as a weekly publication that quickly gained momentum until it surpassed PUCK's sales with over 100,000 by 1912. The magazine switched to a monthly by 1932 until publication ceased in 1947.

Mostly comprised of various gag cartoons the magazine also has many articles on issues of the day and is filled with advertisements.

Humor Magazines - BALLYHOO

BALLYHOO 1931 - 1939 Dell Publishing Co.

Of the early satire magazines Ballyhoo most resembles MAD in the parody ads scattered around the magazine as well as some of it's features. Originally started as a weekly magazine and showcased talent such as Dr. Suess. The publication ran until 1939 then two additional attempts to resuscitate in 1948 and then in 1952 were not successful with the magazine finally folding in 1954, ironically less than a year before MAD became a monthly slick magazine.

Humor Magazines - LOONY SPORTS

LOONY SPORTS #1 Spring '75 3 Strikes Publishing

Although most of the magazines that have been reviewed/listed here are non-genre specific, LOONY SPORTS is included here because a couple of very well known humor magazine artists contributed to its 66 page only issue, Al Scaduto and Tony Tallarico, who have both been contributors to CRAZY and CRACKED. A great Monster baseball team piece as well as a variety of sports related satires makes this a very enjoyable read.

Humor Magazines - BLAST

BLAST Feb '71 - #2 May '71 G&D Publishing

A terribly "Worried" Mr. Muggles Mohasky lasted a mere 2 issues as he and BLAST quietly disappeared into the depths of the humor mag history. This publication was the 1st magazine sized satire book of the 10 more titles to come out in the '70's.

Humor Magazines - THIMK

THIMK May '58 - May #6 '59 Counterpoint Inc.

With the tremendous success of MAD magazine as a comic book and then its move to a magazine in July 1955 the flood gates were opened again and a host of other publishers wished to capitalize on MAD's format. In the latter part of the '50's 16 other titles emerged that were similar in content. One such addition was THIMK magazine with it's mascott "Otis Dracenstein" a Frankenstein type character (probably capitalizing on the then in full bloom) Monster Craze. THIMK also devoted a number of interior pages to Monsters and also did a number of articles and a cover appearance by the king of rock n' roll Elvis Presley. Overall an OK addition to the long line of parody/satire magazines.

Frankenstein JACK DAVIS style

Whenever I think of great Frankenstein images I always think of Jack Davis's renderings over the years. I think back to that great life sized poster from the late 60's that you could order through most comic books, the wide variety of Monster record album covers, magazine covers (CREEPY #1 being a real stand out) and the tons of interior pages to the EC line. Above are a few examples not seen too often.