Ask a comics fan about his favorite artists and he can rattle off a list of names without a moments hesitation. Rarely do those lists include artists who work in a humorous vein. To give the folks who put the "funny" in funny books their due I came up with a top ten list. Since the number of humor artists in comic books is rather small compared to their more serious brethren, I cheated a bit by including artists who worked in comic strips and magazines as well.
Bob Oksner ( Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope)
Sergio Aragones (Groo)
Marie Severin (Not Brand Echh)
Don Martin (Mad)
Mort Drucker (Mad)
Elzie Segar (Thimble Theater/Popeye)
Johnny Hart (BC)
Charles Schulz (Peanuts)
Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)
Gahan Wilson (various magazines)
Who makes your list of favorite funny folks ?
Replies
Let's see ...
Sergio Aragones
John Severin, when he wanted to
Ramona Fradon
Marie Severin
Mort Drucker (even when MAD doesn't have a piece by him, it makes sure to have something from a Mort Drucker imitator)
Angelo Torres
Kyle Baker
Joe Staton
Phil Foglio
Chris Eliopoulos
Jack Kirby (Not Brand Echh)
Ogden Whitney (Herbie)
Walt Kelly (Pogo)
Floyd Gottfredson (Mickey Mouse)
John Stanley (Little Lulu, 13 Going on 18)
Gene Colan and Tom Sutton also did a lot of funny work for Not Brand Echh.
Charles Addams
Kyle Baker
Sergio Aragones
Bill Watterson
Dan DeCarlo
Marie Severin
Al Capp
Hilary Barta
Jack Davis
Jack Cole!
Rudolph Dirks and Harold H. Knerr (Katzenjammer Kids/Captain and the Kids)
Seeing Jack Kirby and Gene Colan in Not Brand Echh was something of a revelation, both were quite capable of producing truly funny art. I loved Kirby's FF parody in the first issue of NBE. Colan did an Avengers(Revengers) parody that was also top notch.
One very unusual Revengers story was the one that ended with Hawkeye reading the comic and stating how stupid the premise, that the Revengers couldn't find anybody to fight, was. Then it turns out the Avengers are in the exact same situation, prompting the Wasp to suggest "Anyone for tennis?" The story was drawn by Tom Sutton except for the last page where John Buscema drew the "real" world. Pity he didn't draw the whole thing. Did he (or maybe Stan) think he couldn't draw funny?
I still sometimes say "I own a hundred pair of stretch socks!" as an expression of futility. No one gets it, of course, but it makes me smile remembering the story.
doc photo said:
It's funny the way he keeps saying it but why exactly does he have so many? Does that mean Mr. Fantastical (unlike Mr. Fantastic) never perfected unstable molecules and needs a hundred pairs of stretch socks because he keeps ruining them stretching them out too much?