CRAZY #80

This is the 80th issue of Crazy from November 1981.

Parody of The Howling which I don't remember being a big hit when it came out.

Mary Wilshire

Two pages you would flip back and forth to make look like a cartoon.

Gary Hallgren

Art by Arnoldo Franchioni

Parody of Greatest American Hero

Parody of this ad by Marie Severin

CRAZY #63

Someone at Marvel Comics finally read an issue of Crazy and realized their editor Paul Laikin wasn't tying the magazine in with the rest of the Marvel Universe so they fired everyone and hired staff editor Larry Hama as its editor and hired Marvel artists illustrate articles and give it more of a “Mike Mine Marvel” feel.

This issue is from June 1980.

I have most of these later issues of Crazy but won't be showing highlights from all of them because most of them and still alive and working, and mainly because I've worked with some of them and probably will in the future. Parody of the movie Apocalypse Now Proposals from Mad artist Tom Hachtman. One of their recurring features was a parody of current song lyrics in the guise of a Midnight Special spoof. From Wimmen's Comix contributor Joey Epstein. (not the Boy Meets World character.) Every issue had a “Crazy Looks At...” article in their centerfold illustrated by Ned Sonntag. There was a Don Martin-type feature throughout each issue, this time by “Kovacs” who I'm pretty sure was Mad artist Dave Manak moonlighting. A recurring character probably to trademark the name just as they did with She-Hulk. Fantasy vs. Reality was also a regular feature of theirs. They had Howard the Duck strips before but they were one-page gag strips that could have featured anyone. The evil clown trope is a cliché now but was a new idea at the time. I wonder if the Juggalos got the idea of their look from this. They kept some of their old artists. This Benson parody was by past contributors Murad Gumen and Kent Gamble. Micronauts ad parody by Marvel and one-time Micronauts artist Michael Golden.

CRAZY #3, 3 of 5

Artist Larry Hama actually became the last editor of the magazine in the 80s.

Hard to tell people now, but things about the paranormal and UFOs were really big and taken seriously in the 70s.