When Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Gaines launched EC's Mad comic book as a warmly received satirical magazine, a flood of imitators soon filled newsstands, but the first and best to follow in Mad's footsteps (coinciding with the second issue of Mad magazine) was Snafu, edited and written by Kurtzman's former boss: Stan "The Man" Lee!
Snafu was packed with Marvel/Atlas' top humor creators and, following the Mad playbook, filled pages with ad and news spoofs, alongside film, television, and book parodies like "The Blackboard Forest" by Russ Heath, "Pete Kelsey's Booze" and "Bleed, You Bum!" by Joe Maneely, "Drugnet" by Howie Post, "Emily Toast's Etiquette Page" by John Severin, and "Snafu's Lovely Ladies" by Bill Everett, with production supervised by Marie Severin. Seen here is some of the most eye-popping work of Maneely's short life, including great Hollywood caricatures done in a wash style.
In this new volume in our Atlas Library collaboration with Marvel, Fantagraphics is tickled pink to present for the first time, the complete Snafu collection along with a history of Martin Goodman's humor publications in all genres by editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo.
Everett, Bill: - Bill Everett (1917-1973) was the foundational artist of Marvel Comics. He originated Namor, the Sub-Mariner as a freelance creation, before placing it in Marvel Comics #1, the first publication from Timely Comics, later Atlas, then Marvel. Everett wrote and drew the early appearances of the character from 1940-42, and would periodically return to him during the post-war '40s, right up until the early 1970s. During Atlas' heyday, Everett worked extensively on horror anthology shorts, including taking over the romance/fantasy series Venus and converting it to straight horror. After Marvel's wholesale move to a superhero universe, Everett co-created the blind hero Daredevil with editor/scripter Stan Lee.
Lee, Stan: - Stan Lee (1922-2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher and producer for Timely/Marvel Comics and was the co-creator of many of the Marvel Comics iconic heroes, including Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Daredevil, Thor, Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, and the X-Men.
Maneely, Joe: - Joe Maneely (1926-1958) blazed a trail through Marvel's 1950s comic books that is unsurpassed in both quantity and quality. Maneely was revered as a lightning-fast talent, and he launched most of Marvel's character features during that time, excelling at every genre -- westerns, horror, humor, and war. He is best remembered today for his signature character, The Black Knight. Maneely's career was tragically cut short in June 1958 when, at the age of 32, he accidentally fell between the cars of a moving commuter train.
Severin, John: - John Powers Severin (1921-2012), who had a "realistic" comics style, specialized in war, western, and humor comics. One of Mad's founding artists, he worked for with Cracked magazine for forty-five years.
Vassallo, Michael J.: - Dr. Michael J. Vassallo is a noted historian on Marvel's early pulp, Timely and Atlas periods. A Manhattan dentist, he spends his free time attempting to bring recognition to artistic creators of the 1940's and 1950's. He has also written introductions to 20 Timely and Atlas Masterworks volumes, dissecting the credits for posterity and providing historical context, as well as writing the detailed captions to the first 210 pages of Taschen's 75 Years of Marvel coffee table book. He lives in Westchester County, New York.
