CRACKED #27

Here's the cover to the 27th issue from November 1962 by John Severin. Only four artists are credited in the contents, two are pseudonyms. There's a “LePoer” on the masthead, French for Severin's middle name of “Powers”. Four writers are listed, one of them is “John Powers”. The inside front cover has a spoof ad for Log Cabin maple syrup, then The Numbers Game is drawn by John Severin, Severin also drew Dear John Letters Throughout History.

Here's John Severin again. If You're Cracked, You're Happy says Severin was the “glue” that held Cracked together. His widow said he was paid a flat salary for working for them. This was by Bill Ward a/k/a “McCartney”. In If You're Cracked, You're Happy again:

”Bill Ward did not sign his work as 'Ward' for a number of years, preferring to use the name “McCartney”. It is not known whether this change was made because of Ward’s previous 'blacklisting' from comic books as one of the casualties of the Comic Code Authority. Whatever the reason, Don Orehek explains where the name McCartney came from: 'His wife. He was married to a British gal. He used to use her maiden name. I don’t know if it was McCartney. I never met him. I knew that one of the names he used was his wife’s maiden name.'”

Back to Severin, who drew Custom-Made Towels and then this: And Ward Awards For Unsung Students was drawn by Severin, as well as If Madison Avenue Advertised The Twist: New Designs For Business Cards is all-text and not credited to anyone:

Eventually Don Martin was a regular at Cracked but 25 years earlier they wanted readers to think it was him when (I think) they had John Severin draw this blatant imitation under a pseudonym. Bill Ward There was a bit about Typical Graduates, then Sensationalized Reference Books. There was the Horror House ad, then a parody of Lucky Strike cigarettes

. Severin also did this subscription ad using their loose back-to-school theme. The back cover is a fake subpeona and parking ticket.