Humor Comics: MAD, Magazine Culture, and Cartoonists

EC Comics launched Mad in October 1952, edited by Harvey Kurtzman, as a 10-cent comic book parody that attacked advertising culture, television, movies, and the other EC horror and crime comics simultaneously. When the Comics Code Authority effectively ended EC's horror and crime lines in 1955, publisher William Gaines converted Mad to a 25-cent black-and-white magazine format in July 1955 to escape the Code's jurisdiction - a format it maintained for decades. The original Mad #1 through #23 in comic book format are distinct from the magazine run and are among the most sought-after items in humor comics collecting, with high-grade copies of Kurtzman's original issues reaching four figures at auction.

Humor Comics and Mad Cartoonists collecting covers the work of the artists who defined American humor comics from the 1950s through the 1980s: Kurtzman, Will Elder, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, and Al Jaffee (who contributed to Mad from 1955 until 2019, a 65-year run). The overlap between EC horror collecting and humor comics collecting is significant - the same collectors often pursue both, since Kurtzman, Davis, Wood, and Elder all worked on EC's horror and crime lines before Mad converted to a magazine. Original art from the Mad studio - cover art, splash pages, fold-ins by Jaffee - represents the highest tier of the category, with prices reflecting both the historical importance of the artists and the scarcity of original pages from a magazine that was printed by the millions but whose original art was not systematically preserved.

Two practical habits. Distinguish between the EC comic book era (Mad #1-23, 1952-1955) and the magazine era when evaluating purchases - the two formats have different scarcity profiles and different collector communities, and price expectations developed in one market don't transfer cleanly to the other. And authenticate original art from the Mad studio carefully: the humor cartoon original art market has active forgeries, and legitimate original pages should show period-appropriate materials (India ink on Bristol board or similar), board dimensions consistent with published reproduction sizes, and often blue pencil underdrawing under the final ink.

The Kurtzman-era long game

Learn the Humor Comics fundamentals - Mad issue numbering and the EC/magazine format transition at #24, how the major Mad cartoonist careers overlap with EC horror and other humor venues, and which original art categories from the Mad studio have the most documented collector demand - and keep notes on issue, format, and condition at purchase.

Find the other humor comics collectors

Niches like Humor Comics grow sharper when collectors tracking EC and Mad runs can compare sourcing leads and authentication approaches. Amassable lets you log issues with format and condition notes, display the humor comics collection like a gallery, and meet others completing the same Kurtzman-era runs. Early members help shape how this specialty develops.

Your turn

Log the issues, document the formats, compare notes with the community. Amassable is built for Humor Comics collectors - catalog what you own, track the EC-era gaps, and start conversations about the Mad #1-23 comic book issues worth pursuing. Download Amassable from the official store links on our homepage, and help bring the humor comics community together, one fold-in at a time.