Bill Peckmann &Comic Art &Illustration 27 Jan 2012 04:03 am
Goodman Beaver
- Bill Peckmann sent another strong piece by Harvey Kurtzman.
Here’s Bill to introduce it:
- I came across my stash of Harvey Kurtzman‘s HELP! magazines that I haven’t looked at in 45 years. Surprise, surprise, what a wonderful comic cornucopia is in those forgotten books. There’s all of our favorite cartoonists and then some. As always, Harvey was ahead of the curve in format and style, there wasn’t quite anything like HELP! when it came out those 50 years ago
- Here’s Harvey Kurtzman’s and Bill Elder’s series “Goodman Beaver” from the magazine. The series started in 1961, towards the end of the run of HELP!.
This is the cover of the paperback that came out in 1962 which reprinted four of the “Goodman” stories. In it were also capsule bio’s of Harvey, Bill and Goodman.
Cover
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Bios
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Here are the “Goodman Beaver” stories as they appeared in HELP! magazine. (The paperback reprinted the stories in a one panel per page format, art was also added to fill out the page.) The pages are written an laid out by Harvey and finished off in black and white by Bill Elder. Bill’s finished art is beautifully done, especially his hand crafted grays. I believe Bill’s “engraving like” style was influenced by the terrific “antique/recycled” cartoons Harvey use to run in his early MAD magazine and in HELP! The combination of Harvey’s fluid, animated lay outs and Bill’s meticulous final art make for something quite unique.
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There are two more stories to follow:
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The last story is hilarious – especially if you’re an Archie fan.
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The back cover of the paperback
Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for sharing this great material.
on 27 Jan 2012 at 1:59 pm 1.Paul said …
This is terrific. Reminds me of the pile of MAD mags I inherited from my uncle. Thanks for sharing.
on 27 Jan 2012 at 7:46 pm 2.The Gee said …
Brilliant stuff.
I don’t recall having seen the S*perm*n or T*rz*n ones before.
Elder’s stuff is incredible. And, the parody is top notch.
Thanks. Seeing this makes me want to draw.
on 04 Feb 2012 at 4:21 am 3.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Many thanks for this! I wonder why the cover was so plain?
on 08 Jun 2012 at 4:58 pm 4.Larry McAwful said …
Wonderful! Goodman Beaver is one of my favorite comic characters. Nice to see the incredibly rare “Goodman Goes Playboy” reprinted. Archie Comics still won’t come down off their high horse after they sued Kurtzman and Elder into oblivion over him. It’s been almost fifty years! You’d think they’d be able to forgive and forget by now.
on 16 Oct 2012 at 3:16 pm 5.Joe Klinsky said …
Since you have a stash of HELP!, perhaps you can tell me if there ever was a Chapter I of Goodman Beaver.
Thanks.
on 06 Nov 2012 at 12:46 am 6.Andrew McIntosh said …
Wasn’t chapter I “The Organization Man in the Gray Flannel Executive Suit” story in Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book?