Al Feldstein, rest in peace

[markseifert]

http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-artist-mad-magazine-editor-feldstein-dies/

 

There's been far too few of the great comic pros in our history living happily ever-after, but whenever I think of that, I've always thought of Feldstein as a notable exception -- having lived his later years on a 270 acre Montana ranch, painting and rescuing animals. I always thought that was pretty cool.

 

Rest in Peace, Mr. Feldstein.

[TheSurgeon]

RIP. He was a great, creative artist who produced high quality stories and really defined a generation with his work in Mad. Thanks for posting the link.

[comicjack]

Met Mr Feldstein many moon's ago sad to see another go,seems like heaven is getting all the good talent lately.Thanks for posting!

[Hibou]

http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-artist-mad-magazine-editor-feldstein-dies/

 

There's been far too few of the great comic pros in our history living happily ever-after, but whenever I think of that, I've always thought of Feldstein as a notable exception -- having lived his later years on a 270 acre Montana ranch, painting and rescuing animals. I always thought that was pretty cool.

 

Rest in Peace, Mr. Feldstein.

 

Well said...

 

Rest in Peace.

[Loukayza]

RIP Mr. Feldstein, sad to see these golden age creators go...

 

[mrmyst]

[comicnoir]

Very sad!

[Sqeggs]

Here's an interview that Vincent Z did with Feldstein in 2004: Feldstein/Kamen interview

 

H/T to Kat123 who originally posted the link in the Baker thread a few weeks ago.

[Triston Pence]

So often Al is thought of as the editor of MAD magazine, but he was also a creative force from the begining at EC. So many of EC's greatest covers were the work of Al Feldstein. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times and he was quite a character and a really nice guy. RIP Al.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KirbyJack]

Very sad news, Al was one of the biggies.

 

So often Al is thought of as the editor of MAD magazine, but he was also a creative force from the begining at EC. So many of EC's greatest covers were the work of Al Feldstein.

I never met him, but my friend, the owner of a successful comics shop, did. I will never let him live down what he said to Mr. Feldstein, "So, did you ever do any art for E.C.?"

[originalisbest]

Sad to hear it. Very glad to have met him the one time I did -- rest in peace, Al.

[goldust40]

Another great gone, and one of the last of the E.C. mavens. A cornerstone of E.C. and Mad, like several here I was fortunate enough to meet him at a show once. An excellent, underrated artist and a gentleman - very saddened to hear of his passing.

[originalisbest]

Good ol "stiff figures" (and sweater girls!) Feldstein.

[Junkdrawer]

One of the more memorable talents I had a chance to meet at the Boston Comicon 2 yrs back. He will be sadly missed. R. I. P.

[Jayman]

Thanks for the fantastic art and stories Al, RIP!

[Doohickamabob]

Very sorry to hear this! I am glad at least he lived a long, productive life.

 

Al Feldstein is really the father of Alfred E. Neuman. I am pretty sure most of the idea to make Neuman the mascot for Mad rests with Feldstein. (No doubt with William Gaines' encouragement too, of course.)

 

Though Harvey Kurtzman was the first editor of Mad, Feldstein was there right along with him, editing Mad's sister comic, Panic. When Kurtzman jumped ship and took several Mad artists with him to form Humbug, Feldstein took over. Humbug crashed after 11 issues, and Kurtzman joined up with Hugh Hefner to do a slick color satirical magazine, Trump, which folded after just two issues. Feldstein then brought back several of the artists (including Al Jaffee) and turned Mad Magazine into a huge success.

 

Feldstein, along with Gaines, can be credited with being one of the best editors of the classic comics era. Unlike Gaines, Feldstein knew the business from multiple angles, including one of the most important ones -- the art. I've read that is was Feldstein, more than Gaines, who encouraged the EC artists to play up their own illustration styles instead of having a "house style" for the publisher, and Feldstein also promoted the idea of playing up each artist by name to build more of an identity and connection to the "E.C. Fan-Addicts."

 

Much of the quality of Mad Magazine's heyday (the mid 1950s through the '70s) is because of what was filtered through Feldstein's sensibility. Don Martin would send him gag panels and Feldstein would send them back writing, "This is good, but this could be better. Try adding a little more to this part of the joke" (for example). Feldstein was one of those guys who wanted to make everybody around him look good, and wasn't that concerned about whether he got the personal accolades. (Though during a Comic-Con panel, he did admit to being P.O.'ed when a 1960's Time Magazine article identified Kurtzman as Mad's editor, since Kurtzman had been disconnected from E.C. for many years.)

 

Feldstein also did some greatart for E.C. comics, most prominently during the earlier era but some toward the end as well. He did a lot of the story writing, and in an issue (maybe multiple issues) of the Picto-Fiction magazines such as Shock Illustrated, he had his credit listed as "Alfred E. Neuman" instead of his own name.

 

Some of my favorite Feldstein artwork is what he did for the early Weird Science issues. He also did some cool stuff for E.C.'s short-lived romance comics, such as Modern Love and A Moon, A Girl....Romance. Earlier he had done some amazing work for Fox on the comics Junior and Sunny, drawing chesty women (Deena and Gwenny) whose sweaters were always stretched nearly to the breaking point, but still making them look cute and innocent.

 

I have some signed Feldstein comics, which are among the favorite items in my entire comics collection.

 

A couple of years ago, I saw something show up on eBay: A copy of an issue of Panic that Feldstein not only signed, but upon which he had fully sketched out a picture of Alfred E. Neuman. What a fantastic item! I didn't win it in the auction -- I was the underbidder, and severely drove up the price for whoever won it (and if you're out there, I'm still in the market, buddy!). However, I did save images of it. Here's one I dug up from my archives, which I hereby post in tribute to Feldstein, who can rightfully be called the 2nd Father of the heyday of E.C. Comics (after William Gaines, of course):

[eccomic]

I had the pleasure of spending a great deal of time with Al at the 2008 Motorcity Comicon in Detroit. He was kind enough to sign all of my 41 EC comic covers that he rendered for the New Trend books.

 

Such a kind man. He will be missed

 

 

 

 

[Doohickamabob]

I had the pleasure of spending a great deal of time with Al at the 2008 Motorcity Comicon in Detroit. He was kind enough to sign all of my 41 EC comic covers that he rendered for the New Trend books.

You really put him to work! I hope you bought him a sandwich or something! Just kidding. Great story, great photos.

[Sarg]

One of the greats. He definitely brought comic book scriptwriting to a new level, and of course many of his covers are brilliant and timeless.

[RedFury]

RIP

I was lucky enough to spend most of the day with Al Feldstein at the Baltimore Comic Con in 2007. What a thrill for this EC fanboy!