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The Mad Playboy of Art
 
 
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The Mad Playboy of Art [Paperback]

Will Elder (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Although writer Harvey Kurtzman was the auteur of the early 1950s Mad, artist Elder set the visual approach of the groundbreaking, irreverently satiric comic book. When Kurtzman acrimoniously left Mad, Elder followed him to a string of less renowned but equally pointed humor magazines. In 1962 the pair began collaborating on the lushly painted Little Annie Fanny strip, which ran in Playboy for 25 years. Elder's trademark was the minutiae he crammed into every corner of his panels--throwaway background gags that he referred to as "chicken fat." The key to his success as a parodist was his uncanny ability to ape other artists' styles while infusing his renditions with his distinctive humor; his style, in a sense, was his lack of style. This massive collection features a lengthy biographical essay and strips from throughout Elder's lengthy career, including pre-Mad work, Fanny stories, magazine illustrations, advertisements, and celebrity caricatures. An overdue tribute to an artist who deserves greater recognition for his contributions to comics and to American humor. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Description

Will Elder is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of the second half of the 20th century. And one of the funniest. He is best known for his artistic partnership with Harvey Kurtzman on all their most highly visible collaborations throughout their careers: Mad magazine, Humbug, Goodman Beaver, Trump and Little Annie Fanny. At long last, Elder is getting the book he so richly deserves: The Mad Playboy of Art, a gigantic coffee table book collecting his best work from more than a half a century of drawing and painting.

The book will reprint a representative sampling of the work well-known to aficionados, including stories from the original Mad comic, independent efforts from Humbug, Help!, and Trump magazines, and Little Annie Fanny pages reproduced from the original, painted artwork. Above and beyond the known is the relatively unknown, obscure, or unpublished work, such as pages and spreads from a variety of magazines in the '50s and '60s that Elder contributed to (such as Pageant and Saturday Evening Post), the infamous Norman Rockwell painting parody slated for the 3rd, unreleased issue of Trump (see the cover of this catalog), hysterical gag sketches, celebrity caricatures, oil paintings done for his family, and more.

The book includes commentary by Hugh Hefner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee, Terry Gilliam, William Stout, and Jerry Garcia, who describe the impact that Elder's work had on satire and comic in the second half of 20th century America. Elder himself comments on individual pieces, and Daniel Clowes, the author of Ghost World, supplies the introduction.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Art Book, Jun 17 2004
By 
Charles J. Rector (Woodstock, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art h/c (Hardcover)
Will Elder is one of the greatest artists in American history. Elder's works have appeared in magazines ranging from Mad to Playboy. Many of Elder's best works are parodies of such comic strips as Archie and Lil' Abner. Elder eventually became a full-time artist at Playboy Magazine and was one of Hugh Hefner's top assistants.

This is a must have book for all Will Elder fans.

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5.0 out of 5 stars An in-depth retrospective of the American satirist, April 4 2004
This review is from: The Mad Playboy of Art (Paperback)
Gary Groth and Greg Sadowski's Will Elder: Mad Playboy Of Art provides an in-depth retrospective of the American satirist known for his MAD comics. Will Elder packs in over a hundred pages of black and white and color illustrations from both popular and obscure magazines. The Goodman Beaver stories are reprinted for the first time in their original format, while paintings and sketches from Elder's other works document the personality and achievements of a zany artist.
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5.0 out of 5 stars The MAD-man is loose., Jan 23 2004
By 
Joe, The "50sfan" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mad Playboy of Art (Paperback)
I was introduced to Bill (or Will, if you prefer) Elder in the early 1950's when I discovered MAD the comic. I had been a fan of Sunday color comics and Superman/Batman as a kid but the comic art of Bill (that's how he signed his work in MAD) Elder
was so stunningly exceptional it was an instant hit with me and my friends. I especially liked all the "extra gags" hidden around the panels that made reading his stories take just a little longer. And made re-reading a must. I followed Mr. Elder through MAD, Humbug, Trump, HELP! and finally Playboy. Collecting his other contributions to popular magazines, his "Hateful Thoughts" collection and covers whenever I saw one. His work is so distinctive in it's clean clear sometimes photographic images, yet so diversified with his ability to mimic other artist's styles. You can be fooled into thinking you're really reading a L'il Abner story until you catch his signature on the splash panel. I am delighted that there is so much here in this book from the full length of his career, but I would really hope that there is a volume 2 that picks up the missing pieces from Goodman Beaver and a few others. MAD has been reprinted as has Little Annie Fannie. We need the complete Elder to enjoy over and over for years to come. Complimenting the fantastic art is the narrative highlighting Elder's life and other achievements. This marvelous book will be a welcome addition to anyone's bookshelf. Especially if you have a funny bone.
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