RIOT #5, 1 of 2

This was one of Marvel/Atlas' Mad competitors Riot, an issue of which I posted before. This is the 5th issue from April 1956.

I believe this cover was by John Severin

As was this story...

Joe Maneely

Dan DeCarlo parodying cartoonists like Virgil Partch, Syd Hoff, Ted Key, and I think himself.

Parody of ads for Trans-World Airlines by Bill Everett

RIOT #3, 3 of 3

RIOT #3, 2 of 3

There was something Marvel published around the same time called WORLD'S GREATEST SONGS, presumably because Stan Lee was overworked and in order for them to issue a new title, they relied on public domain lyrics. This was probably meant for that. I'm not sure who the artist is, but they did a good job imitating the style of Jack Davis.


When most people think of Dave Berg, they think of the smug middle-aged guy smoking a pipe and complaining about miniskirts. I guess I'm as bad as anyone else in perpetuating that legend. But like Kurtzman and Elder, Bob Hope, and Benny Hill are best known for the inferior work they did the later half of their life, so too did Dave Berg spend the later half doing THE LIGHTER SIDE. Here's yet another attempt at rectifying the situation and showing he was much more versatile once.



Another public-domain song in RIOT probably meant for WORLD'S GREATEST SONGS.



Everything today was from RIOT #3 in 1954.

RIOT #3, 1 of 3

Here's one of the many imitations of the MAD comic book. I've printed a couple stories from RIOT before, so here's an issue in its entirety from August 1954(minus the ads and text). Marvel Comics (or Atlas or Timely), when it was part of the Magazine Management company and before they discovered their own niche, would ride the coattails of whatever the most successful titles were at the time and try to flood the newsstands with several knock-offs of it. In this the titles were CRAZY, WILD, and RIOT. What was the difference? Damned if I know. CRAZY had stories that were meant to be funny, RIOT did specific parodies of current popular culture, and WILD did specific parodies of literary works. Except when they didn't. Maybe that wasn't the case.

Movie studios each had their own gimmick to compete with television for audiences. Fox had Cinemascope, with the screen wider than that previously unseen. This parody of “How To Marry a Millionaire” also parodies the widescreen format. Here's the style Dan DeCarlo used later in perfecting the Archie house style.





There was a time when Liberace was believed to be not only a heterosexual, but the epitome of heterosexuality.

Seventeen-Year Twitch

Here's yet another parody from RIOT #4 in 1954.

That splash page bothers me because of the shoes on the subway grate. The holes are bigger than the heels so theoretically they would fall in unless she balanced them very carefully. Not to mention that standing over a subway grate gives you a whiff of smelly air. Maybe it didn't in the mid 50s. I guess the fact that it's supposed to be funny increases your suspension of disbelief. Some of you would probably ask why I would notice such discrepancies with Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing upwards. All I can say in my defense is that I'm a cartoonist myself.

It's not the first time it's been done and bothered me. There was a story Kevin Smith wrote for THE NEW YORK TIMES where a panel also parodied the SEVEN-YEAR ITCH poster and the artist did the same thing...

Anyway, back to the story...




Marvel/Atlas/Timely/Magazine Management had an edict that if a successful magazine was on the stands, they would drown it out with several imitations of it. There were at least three comics they did copying MAD. Stan Lee was among the few who even came close to imitating Harvey Kurtzman's style and timing.