1. Jungle Book. This is the sort of thing I wish was more commercially feasible- the collection of four stories, not really thematically joined but still fun to read together. I find it very interesting that Will Eisner gets credited as the father of the graphic novel, yet Kurtzman had a very similar format here twenty years earlier. (Perhaps this is due to the fact that "A Contract with God" is far more serious than Kurtzman's book, and also whatever marketing was done for ACWG. I'm not trying to take down Eisner, whose work I adore.)
2. One of his last projects, if not his last, was a collaboration with Matt Wagner of Grendel/Mage fame on an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "It Burns Me Up!". Matt Wagner talked about it. Kurtzman was in really bad health- he'd die before the project was complete. But he picks this story, a parody of a closed room murder detective story- because he could liken his situation to that of the victim. Matt Wagner did a magnificent job of using Kurtzman's sketches to make a fantastic story with painted art.
In 1963 MAD was not only the poor boy's art house, it was near to the only place where mom 'n dad's rigid, butch haircut, salute 'n obey, post-war righteousness could be questioned. It was my first sweet whiff of subversion, flying under the radar as a harmless comic book. There was something schizophrenic about America back then. As kids we were raised on cotton candy, Captain Kangaroo and Disney-land. Then, soon as we turned 18, we got rounded-up and sent off to get shot in Vietnam..... Defending Mickey Mouse.
When I was in junior high, MAD Magazine published a series of "super specials" which contained bound-in four-color reprints of the original Kurtzman comics. Even as a 12-year-old, I could tell that the comics were better than the black-and-white magazine (which I nonetheless loved).
Two other Kurtzman books I love:
1. Jungle Book. This is the sort of thing I wish was more commercially feasible- the collection of four stories, not really thematically joined but still fun to read together. I find it very interesting that Will Eisner gets credited as the father of the graphic novel, yet Kurtzman had a very similar format here twenty years earlier. (Perhaps this is due to the fact that "A Contract with God" is far more serious than Kurtzman's book, and also whatever marketing was done for ACWG. I'm not trying to take down Eisner, whose work I adore.)
2. One of his last projects, if not his last, was a collaboration with Matt Wagner of Grendel/Mage fame on an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "It Burns Me Up!". Matt Wagner talked about it. Kurtzman was in really bad health- he'd die before the project was complete. But he picks this story, a parody of a closed room murder detective story- because he could liken his situation to that of the victim. Matt Wagner did a magnificent job of using Kurtzman's sketches to make a fantastic story with painted art.
https://www.cbr.com/matt-wagner-revisits-his-kurtzmans-lost-ray-bradbury-adaptation-part-1/
https://www.cbr.com/matt-wagner-revisits-his-kurtzmans-lost-ray-bradbury-adaptation-part-2/
In 1963 MAD was not only the poor boy's art house, it was near to the only place where mom 'n dad's rigid, butch haircut, salute 'n obey, post-war righteousness could be questioned. It was my first sweet whiff of subversion, flying under the radar as a harmless comic book. There was something schizophrenic about America back then. As kids we were raised on cotton candy, Captain Kangaroo and Disney-land. Then, soon as we turned 18, we got rounded-up and sent off to get shot in Vietnam..... Defending Mickey Mouse.
No wonder we ended up doing drugs.....
When I was in junior high, MAD Magazine published a series of "super specials" which contained bound-in four-color reprints of the original Kurtzman comics. Even as a 12-year-old, I could tell that the comics were better than the black-and-white magazine (which I nonetheless loved).