Someone was asking me about the infamous Kurtzman and Elder story that got them sued by Archie Comics, and this is it. And fortunately for us, Archie never renewed its copyright, so it later fell into the public domain, which now means it can fall directly into a comfy spot for all eternity here at AEET too! Enjoy! From the February 1962 issue of Warren's HELP! V2#1.
3 comments:
Kurtzman had such a strong comedy style. Page 3, panel 2 is a gag he loved to use (my favorite use is the Hounds of Baskerville rip off in MAD.) The last page, the last 2 panels is another setup/gag Kurtzman loved.
These kind of gags work incredible well in comics, because the space between the panels allows the gags to have that setup / punch-line vibe that's actually harder to do in something without the-- I guess you could call it -- time displacement. Writing gags and understanding the space between panels is one of the things Kurtzman really was the expert at.
And Elder really knocks it out of the park, too. Recognizable Archie ... er Archer ... gang, and when Archer reveals his deal with the devil, how his expression changes and how the lighting changes is all just peak comedic artwork.
This is two geniuses working at their highest level.
Follow up: I just noticed, Goodman -- the only "square" in the group -- has all his balloons square! HA! That's awesome!
Always been a fave. Such a rich and amazingly wrought work of comics. Also, it has an oddly conservative lean for Kurtzman, who was often a little less preachy about the world doing to heck.
Mr. Barnes' mentions of the fully-utilized paneling/pacing in these gags, above, is spot on, so I want to do his usual duty and point out two cinematic camera-pan gags that Harvey/Will knock out of the park here (and make totally fresh with their brilliant framings): The gang staring at the woman walking her dog at the top of page two, and the shotgun wedding march of Bette and Joghead beginning at the bottom of page four--both purely visual gags, the latter somehow surviving stretched over a page turn.
Magical stuff.
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