Harvey Kurtzman - Illustration History

Biography

Born to Russian-Ukrainian Jewish parents, Harvey Kurtzman—a writer, editor, and cartoonist—is best known as the creative genius and force behind the humor comic and magazine MAD, which debuted in 1952. He is often credited for revolutionizing humor in America, and has mentored and taught many future-famous artists like Robert Crumb, Batton Lash, Drew Friedman, and Gilbert Shelton, among others.

After the death of his father when he was only four, he and his brother were placed in an orphanage for three months until his mother could find a job. She soon remarried a brass engraver who actively encouraged Kurtzman to pursue his artistic interests, even taking the children to museums. Kurtzman grew up reading comic strips in the Sunday newspaper and soon became obsessed with the genre. His main influences included the likes of Rube Goldberg, Will Eisner, Milton Caniff, Al Capp, Thomas Nast, and Wilhelm Busch. Eisner and Capp’s work was the primary inspiration for Kurtzman’s love for satire and parody. Throughout his early years, he showed great intellect and was therefore allowed to skip a grade. At twelve years old, he even applied to work at Walt Disney Studios, where he was predictably rejected. During the late 1930s, Kurtzman began falling in love with comic strips and comic books, as he was not satisfied with the newspapers that his parents read. When he was fourteen years old, his first cartoon was published in Tip Top Comics #36. Later, he was awarded the annual John Wannamaker Art Contest where he received a scholarship to attend the High School of Music and Art in New York.

While attending the High School of Music and Art, Kurtzman met future collaborators Al Jaffee, John Severin, Al Feldstein, and Will Elder. After graduating in 1941, he earned a scholarship from Cooper Union where he only studied for a year, dropping out to pursue a career in cartooning. Kurtzman’s comic career began between 1942 and 1943 as he worked for various publications, working as an assistant to Louis Ferstadt, as well as for Ace Periodicals’ "Magno." Following the start of his cartooning career, Kurtzman was drafted to serve in World War II. He was never sent overseas, and he found himself stationed in the U.S. where he worked illustrating military flyers, posters, pamphlets, and newsletters. After he was discharged, he looked for more publishing opportunities, many of which were not fruitful. In 1947, he hooked back up with former school buddy Will Elder and Charles Stern. The three got together and opened the Charles William Harvey Studio. The trio had trouble getting work but stayed open until the end of 1951. The studio space also acted as a sublet for cartoonists such as future MAD collaborator Dave Berg.

Prior to working with William Gaines, Kurtzman worked on "Hey Look" for Timely Comics with Stan Lee, where he produced 150 episodes running from 1946 until 1949. In 1950, he moved to EC Comics where he worked on various genres, including combat-related comic books. Titles he worked on at EC included Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, both becoming serious comics that talked about nature and the complexities of war. In Kurtzman’s combat comics, he aimed to show the realities of war without glamorizing it like other comics, movies, or war propaganda. His research went as far as interviewing soldiers and flying along in a rescue plane. Feeling underappreciated and overworked, Gaines suggested Kurtzman start up a humor magazine to help alleviate his income problems. In 1952, Kurtzman launched MAD where, much like his previous titles, pushed to expose the lies and cliches found in mainstream media and culture. He served as writer, editor, and artist for MAD’s first 23 comic book issues and its first five magazines before leaving in 1956. Prior to leaving, MAD did not have immediate success until its fourth issue. With MAD’s success, imitations began popping up from other publishers, including EC with Feldstein’s Panic. Kurtzman’s MAD was to keep the magazine from becoming formulaic. With this goal, he aimed to keep each issue unpredictable through various gimmicks.

In 1954, German-born psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published a book titled "Seduction of the Innocent," which warned readers that comic books had a negative impact on children and was a cause of juvenile delinquency. A hearing was called by the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency in which many of EC's most popular titles were used to state that comics were warping children's minds. As a result, that same year the Comics Code Authority was ceated which censored and restricted many publishers from printing comics of sex, violence, and horror. Due to this, EC was forced to cease publication of their popular titles like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror. Although many of EC's biggest series were shut down, MAD remained. However, the substantial loss of these titles, and Kurtzman's push for higher pay and stakes in the magazine, contributed to the strain in the relationship between him and Gaines. In 1956, Kurtzman left MAD, thus allowing Al Feldstein to return and take over as editor. Following his departure, Kurtzman worked on a variety of formative works including Trump, Help, and “Little Annie Fanny,” which appeared in Playboy magazine. Trump was backed by Hugh Hefner, but was short-lived as sales were not profitable. His following publications also fell short, including his self-financed magazine Humbug, which only ran for eleven issues. Between the mid-1970s and 1990, Kurtzman imparted his knowledge to future artists when he worked with students at the School of Visual Arts in New York—where he taught satirical cartooning. In the mid-80’s, Kurtzman reconciled with Gaines and went back to MAD for a brief time, working on issue #256 until issue #281. In all, Kurtzman contributed to 50 issues of MAD, establishing himself as a guiding force in how America looked at itself through the eyes of comedy.

Illustrations by Harvey Kurtzman

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Kitchen, Dennis, Paul Buhle and Harry Shearer. The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2009.

Kurtzman, Harvey, et al. Harvey Kurtzman’s Strange Adventures. New York: Epic Comics, 1990.

Kurtzman, Harvey, et al. Trump: The Complete Collection. Milwaukie: Kitchen Sink Books, 2016.

Najarian, Jonathan. Comics and Modernism: History, Form, and Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2024.

Schelly, William. Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America. Washington: Fantagraphics Books, 2015.