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 Harvey Kurtzman: His Life and Work June 17, 2009
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Abrams ComicArts is a new imprint from the art and pop-culture publisher Abrams Books. The recently released //The Art of Harvey Kurtzman// is an excellent example of Abrams quality and attention to detail, and a splendid sign of things to come. Harvey Kurtzman, for those unfamiliar with is name, may have been one of the most influential artists, editors, and satirists in American culture, being most notably responsible for //Mad Magazine//. Kurtzman also helped launch the careers of Robert Crumb, Gloria Steinem, Terry Gilliam, and Art Spiegelman. Dennis Kitchen, comic editor and publisher himself, and Paul Bahle, American History and Culture professor, have collected hundreds of examples of art from the Kurtzman archives and created a visual history of his work, starting in the 1939 with an entry into a Buffalo Bob cartoon contest and ending with a //Kings in Disguise// cover from 1988.
The reprinted //Superduperman// comic from //Mad// no. 4 (April-May, 1953) is an early parody of the classic super hero form that so many other series owe a debt (or at least a tip of the hat) - //Watchman, Dark Knight, Brat Pack//, to name a few.
Much of the work reproduced isn't the clean, finished product. Kitchen included many working sketches and reproduced them, Wite-Out® and all. There are a number of examples going from sketch to ink and, finally, finished product. The five working pages of Little Annie Fanny are reprinted on transparency, allowing the reader to see the transitions from rough idea to final color art. Kurtzman has had many of his stories and series collected over the years (most recently, the complete //Humbug// two-volume set from Fantagraphics), but here is the overview of his entire oeuvre, warts and all. Harry Shearer, in his introduction, says that without Kurtzman, there would have been no //Saturday Night Live// or //Simpsons//. While that may or may not be true, it is true that Kurtzman was on the leading edge of popular culture. And without his pioneering work on //Mad Magazine//, American culture (and many millions of young adult lives) would be a poorer place indeed. |
