Harvey, The Friendly Ghost

Maybe it's because Halloween is just around the corner, but I am absolutely convinced ( wink wink) that Harvey Kurtzman's ghost is following me around, as evidenced by the three random encounters I had with him last week.

It all started last Sunday morning when, week's labor done, I stretched out on my bed and gingerly opened the wonderful new book, The Toon Treasury Of Classic Children's Comics. Edited by Art Spiegelman & Francoise Mouly, this baby is chock full of the kind of comics I wish were still being produced for kids of all ages today, by creators such as my main man Sheldon Mayer, Carl Barks, Walt Kelly, and, of course, Harvey Kurtzman, who is represented by his "Egghead Doodle" and "Hey Look!" strips. If you love the comic book medium at all, you either already have this book or are rapidly saving your lunch money to acquire a copy. It smells nice too. While we're on the subject, you can find more wonderful kid-friendly comics on the new blog called, appropriately enough, The Big Blog Of Kids' Comics!

The next evening, Pooh Bear and I sat down to watch the the first installment of Monty Python's latest final rip-off (they really mean it for sure this time!, Part XVI), "Monty Python: Almost The Truth: The Lawyer's Cut" and I was a bit startled when Terry Gilliam started talking about, you guessed it, Harvey. It seems Kurtzman had given Gilliam one of his first pro assignments, working as an editor on the magazine Help! after seeing Terry's Kurtzman-inspired revamp of Fang!, his college publication. In fact, it was at Help! that Gilliam first crossed paths with John Cleese, who was recruited to star in one of the magazines oft-featured fumetti bits.
A few days later, I stopped by Wal-Mart, stop two in what would eventually be a four destination search for the elusive new Plastic Man dvd collection ( more on that later). I failed to find Plas, but my eyes were drawn to the affordably priced reissue of Rankin Bass' 1967 classic, Mad Monster Party. I had lost my previous copy in what I refer to, starting now, as "The Great DVD Sacrifice of Ought Eight." Imagine my surprise when, while scanning the credits on the back, I came across the name of...Harvey Kurtzman. Yes, he was one-third of the screenplay team, the others being Len Korobkin and Forrest J. Ackerman. Here, watch the trailer while my chill bumps go down.

The only conclusion I can draw by this string of coincidences is that Kurtzman wants to see more of his work spotlighted here on Easily Mused, to remind folks that he had a hand in a lot of things that are now considered classic. So if you see a lot more Kurtzman work around these parts, remember, I didn't choose him, he chose me.

Since my other current obsession is The Beatles: Rock Band, here's master satirist Kurtzman's first take on The Fab Four ( or as he calls 'em, "The Bleatles"), in a 1965 Little Annie Fanny strip, featuring "a little help from his friends" Will Elder, Russ Heath, and Al Jaffee. It's gear, far out, and groovy, but that Annie chick has a nice set of bazooms, so if you are easily offended, please shield your eyes whilst reading. Ok, Harvey, satisfied??? Oh... right, thanks. I forgot to mention that you can feast your eyes on more Kurtzman treasures in Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle's recently published 256 page hardcover, The Art Of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius Of Comics. I haven't read it yet, but I feel compelled to order it soon. B(h)oo Hah!

Plastic Man Pandemonium!

Yesterday saw the release of Plastic Man: The Complete Collection, a 4-Disc DVD set from Warner Home Video featuring the original 35 episodes of Ruby-Spears' Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show. I was six when this show debuted in 1979, and I remember it as one of the first Saturday Morning Cartoons that captured my fertile imagination. Even at that young age, I realized I would never fly like a bird or a plane or Superman. Stretching, however, was completely feasible. I'm sure at some point while watching this show, the spoon I used to gobble up my Sugar Smacks or Apple Jacks must have slipped from my grubby little fingers onto the chartreuse deep-pile carpet. At this point, I would have utilized this remarkable superpower to help me retrieve it, probably with only seconds to spare before the global death ray would have been triggered, destroying all mankind! Those of you who are Saturday Morning veterans, you'll understand.

One of the great things about this series is that it featured the voice talents of Michael Bell, who is certainly on the short list of great voice actors ever. Toon Zone reporter Xum Yukinori has just posted a lively interview with Mr. Bell and it offers more than a glimpse into the world of cartoon voiceovers, then and now.

For more Plastic Man coolness, pay a visit to Plastic Man Platitudes, a site dedicated to all things Eel O'Brian, including some nifty fan art.

Of course, the source for all this excitement is the late great Jack Cole, a man whose life and work ( including many Golden Age Plastic Man comic scans) is the constant focus of Paul Tumey's excellent blog, Cole's Comics.

If I might humbly add, I posted the Plastic Man tale from Police Comics #77 (April 1948) in January and you can find that tale, featuring the villainy of a chap named Skullface, right here.

It should be noted that the wonderful Alex Toth designed header at the top of this entry is not associated with the Ruby-Spears' series at all. It is a model sheet for the Hanna-Barbera 1973 Superfriends series in which Plas had a rather lame one episode cameo, retrieving a mouse from the inside of a computer. Still, any excuse to display Toth art works for me!

All but the most fervent completists should be okay with the new DVD collection's omission of the mildly entertaining Baby Plas and Plastic Family segments from the later seasons. These were all conveniently posted on YouTube but have recently "mysteriously vanished," except this one, which I will predict will also "mysteriously vanish" real soon, so view it now, or perhaps never.