STAFF PICKS :: ART OF HARVEY KURTZMAN HC :: JANUARY 08, 2014
ANDY’S PICK :: ART OF HARVEY KURTZMAN HC is a fine career retrospective from Denis Kitchen that is offered again from the good folks at ABRAMS. The book is subtitled, “The MAD Genius of Comics” highlighting Kurtzman’s role as the creator of MAD Magazine. That alone would make Kurtzman a first ballot Hall of Famer (no steroids here) , but Kurtzman deserves recognition for developing the Modern War Comic in two famous must-read EC titles Two Fisted Tales and Front Line Combat. And to add yet another layer to the legacy, with his humor magazine titles Trump and Humbug, Kurtzman unwittingly became the patron saint of the ’60s Underground Comix as well as Independent Comics publishers that followed in their wake. It matter not if you know a lot or a little about this talented visionary; this is a terrific book for your library.