Dave Berg - Illustration History

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Dave Berg was a gifted artist since childhood. At ten years old, he was placed in advanced art classes. Two years later, he earned a part-time scholarship to attend Pratt Institute. He then studied at Cooper Union where he got a job working as an assistant to Will Eisner. He primarily worked on inking the backgrounds of Eisner’s The Spirit, which appeared in Quality Comics. Afterwards, Berg began working at Timely Comics with Stan Lee between 1941 and 1958. He produced a number of stories like Combat Kelly, Tessie the Typist, and The Ringo Kid. When the war broke out, Berg was drafted into the Army Air Corps, and served as a war correspondent in Iwo Jima, Saipan, Japan, and Guam.

Following his return from war, Berg continued to work with Stan Lee while also freelancing for other comic companies, including EC Comics.

When Harvey Kurtzman left MAD in 1956, many of the original artists like Jack Davis, Will Elder, and John Severin left as well. This left the new editor, Al Feldstein, with many holes to fill. It was around this time when artists such as Mort Drucker, George Woodbridge and Don Martin began working with MAD. Berg was part of this new wave and his first appearance in MAD magazine was a four-page story in issue #34 titled “Modern Furniture” from the July 1957 issue, which he both wrote and illustrated.

In 1961, his first “Lighter Side” story was published in issue #66 (October 1961). From then on, Berg continued to work on other stories along with new “Lighter Side” illustrations. However, by the beginning of 1963, his “Lighter Side of…” series was all that he worked on for the magazine—aside from a few one-off stories, and his cover and paperback work. Berg’s series consisted of panels covering various topics such as baseball, babysitting, and boating, among others. At the start, his illustrations covered one topic for each issue. However, by October 1980, the series began covering numerous topics in one issue. His illustrations often featured friends and family, as well as staff from the MAD offices. He often included an alter ego of himself, Roger Kaputnik, in the strips as well. Kaputnik also appears in works from other artists including a parody of the television show “St. Elsewhere,” drawn by Mort Drucker in issue #281 (September 1988).

Along with his work for MAD, Berg also produced two humorous books on religion titled My Friend God (1972), and Roger Kaputnik and God (1974). In a 2009 interview, Al Jaffee described Berg as someone who wanted to be taken seriously. However, when working for a publication like MAD, the staff didn’t take anything seriously, least of all themselves. It appeared Berg felt he was underappreciated, and with the release of his two books about religion, he was made fun of. As Berg was an avid practitioner of Judaism, he also received work from the Moshiach Times and the B’nai Brith newsletter.

Since his start at MAD, he appeared in more than 360 issues as well as writing and illustrating 13 paperback books for the magazine. Berg worked at MAD for 46 years up until his death in 2002. As a tribute, 18 of MAD’s artists illustrated strips that had been written by Berg, but not drawn out—the tribute and illustrations were published in the March 2003 issue.

Illustrations by Dave Berg

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Berg, David and Drew Friedman. Mad’s Greatest Artists: Dave Berg – Five Decades of “The Lighter Side of…” Philadelphia: Running Press, 2013.

Berg, Dave and Al Feldstein. Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at People. New York: New American Library, 1966.

Berg, Dave. Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at Our Planet. New York: Warner Books, 1986.

Berg, Dave. Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at the U.S.A. New York: Warner Books, 1977.

Berg, Dave. Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at the Neighborhood. New York: Warner Books, 1984.

Berg, Dave. Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at Our Sick World. New York: Warner Books, 1978.