Sick #59, 2 of 3

Here is the next part of the 59th issue of Sick from March 1968. A possible explanation as to the reason it's cut on all sides is on the last post last week.

Art by Al Bare

Bernard Wiseman

Bill Kresse

This strip by Bob Taylor was along the two pages of pen pal/Class-SICK-Fried Ads pages I didn't feel the need to reprint.

Written by Paul Laikin, who I believe was the real editor despite the masthead and wrote most of the material under different names to make it look like there were more writers. Earlier he had written for Mad, later edited wrote most of Cracked, and recycled much of this material when after this he was editor of Crazy and then Wacko and then back at Cracked.

Sick #59, 1 of 3

The key to being a life-long packrat is not caring about the value of things. What I once had on two shelves I now have on disc in one shoebox. You don't need to own a book if it's in the library. Pretty much every book or record cover can be found online in addition to things you could never afford. Your significant other, who most likely does not share your interest in everything you collect, will just wish you got rid of things no matter how much you try to explain you might need them someday. That old box of comics may list for tens of thousands of dollars in guides or on e-Bay, but that doesn't mean somebody's out there that will pay that much.

I have near-complete runs of almost every Marvel and DC comic, over 1000 undergrounds, pretty much everything by Barks, Stanley, Kirby, and Crumb, the entire run of Mad and National Lampoon, all under my bed. If I had all these in their original versions, they would just deteriorate and make the room smell musty and attract bugs and take up space. An entire box of comics can fit on one disc. Almost every Hollywood studio cartoon from 1930-1960 (except a few lost forever) is on a USB drive the size of my hand. I still have too much stuff I'll never end up looking at like other hoarders, but at least I barely paid anything and they're not in anyone else's way. I attribute it all to not caring about owning rare editions of things in top condition. Remember when laptops first came out and there were those ads saying “What's in your notebook?”? As you know, you can now store at least ten times as much as one now and probably have more than one. So much less space.

It's 2015. Almost any pop culture item is available for free or next-to-nothing if you're not hellbent on owning things or keeping them as a status symbol. There is one drawback though.

While even the most mediocre comics are available as reprints in some form or another, the one thing you do have to track down are magazines like Cracked and Sick. I won't pay more than $5 for any, not because I'm cheap or on a budget, but because I just don't feel they're worth more than that under any circumstances. Beggars can't be choosers though, so that often means accepting things in less than-pristine condition. I don't mind tape or loose covers or markings. It's a miracle some of these things have even survived.

This particular issue of Sick is an example of the adage “you get what you pay for”. It's cut on all sides and I have no idea why. My guess is so it would fit on a bookshelf. It may have also been to hide it from a parent inside a larger more respectable book. Regardless, here is the first part of this, the 59th issue of Sick from March 1968 . By the markings and tape you can see why I was able to get a 47-year-old comic for 50 cents.

Cover was by Joe Simon

Here's the original. No, I don't have the actual original. Again, not enough money or space. Interesting to see what changes were made.

On the cover they advertise stickers, but what they don't tell you is that you provide the scissors and glue.

Bill Kresse

Continued next week...

Cracked #97, 1 of 3

This is issue 97 of Cracked from November 1971.

I've been posting issues out of order and they've reprinted articles many different times, so I won't always remember what I've put here before. I'll try to when I can, so forgive me if you see something twice.

Here's their cover by John Severin as described on the contents page thusly:

Sylvester was really down in the dumps the other day—felt like it had become such a lousy world, life wasn't worth living anymore. Then he found that flower growing up through the sidewalk and it renewed his faith. He was a changed janitor, and for once he was even willing to empty the wastebaskets! It was a nice change, but frankly, were getting a little tired of the whole deal. It was one thing to water it, but keeping tons of fertilizer for it around the office is something else again!

This was their take on psychedelic posters, on the inside front and back covers, and again by John Severin to accompany the article inside (which you'll see eventually)

Also on from the contents page:

In the beginning, psychedelic posters were great. But like most good things, they were seized upon and exploited for every penny they're worth. There's nothing worse than a psychedelic deodorant advertisement. So, we figured that enough's enough, and decided to retaliate with a psychedelic poster to end all psychedelic posters.

Exploiting the psychedelia craze? Seems they were the pot to Cracked's kettle. Like other Mad-influenced humor magazines, they were a few years behind the times too, but better late than never.

And here's the original of that poster. Notice how “psychedelic” is spelled wrong in the original and printed versions, and either the editors didn't notice or didn't care.

Parody of Escape From the Planet of the Apes. Mad didn't parody each movie in the series individually, saving everything for a longer article.

More original art from the issue.

Not everything in Cracked was by John Severin. Here's the recurring feature that Vic Martin did for them.