Like Mad, Cracked knew that they could repackage some of the mountain of material they generated over the years around a common theme and sell it as a "Collectors' Edition." In the days when if you missed an issue of a magazine, it was essentially gone forever, this idea made a lot of sense (and a lot of money, I presume).
So this was Cracked's monster-themed issue, featuring a cover by John Severin that, when you look at it, isn't really funny at all--it's a superbly-rendered cover of a Monster Donnybrook and probably could've run on a Warren mag with just some slight tweaking.
Inside, first up is Severin again with a piece called "Planets of the Creatures" which takes the "Apes" concept and spins the Animal Speak And Spell:
..."Directed by that Italian Genius--Ant Tonioni." Now that's pretty funny.
Next is a feature that humor mags from this era simply couldn't live without--funny captions over old photos. This segment is one of four in the magazine:
Next is a feature that humor mags from this era simply couldn't live without--funny captions over old photos. This segment is one of four in the magazine:
Next is "A Tourist's Guide To Transylvania", which features mostly very silly jokes, but to my eyes, very nice cartoony art reminiscent of those classic Rankin-Bass animated shows:
This segment, like most of the material in this issue, is uncredited (only John Severin seems to have been able to get away with putting his name on his work), which is too bad--I would love to know who drew this.
Next is another piece by John Severin, a parody called The Ghost and Mrs. Mire, a fairly sedate choice of spoofery, but Cracked managed to throw some goofy elements into the mix:
Next is another piece by John Severin, a parody called The Ghost and Mrs. Mire, a fairly sedate choice of spoofery, but Cracked managed to throw some goofy elements into the mix:
Next is "Stationary From Transylvania", then another fumetti segment, then "Transylvanian Cut-Out Signs"(I'm seeing a theme here), then yet another fumetti segment--Cracked's writers must have had a hell of a time coming up with titles for all these photo funny articles.
Next is another movie parody:
Next is another movie parody:
...done in family photo album style, which is actually pretty clever.
Next is "Sylvester, The Blawson of Glock", which I could not make heads or tails of, another fumetti segment, a one-page gag strip called "The Terror Trip", ending with "Transylvanian Travel Stickers", which features jokes about the Mummy and the Creature From the Black Lagoon, who of course never set foot in Transylvania.
Maybe I'm expecting too much from the Cracked writers.
A fairly mediocre collection that doesn't really live up to the cover--the preponderance of fumetti material, which I loved as a kid, doesn't age all that well. More John Severin!
Next is "Sylvester, The Blawson of Glock", which I could not make heads or tails of, another fumetti segment, a one-page gag strip called "The Terror Trip", ending with "Transylvanian Travel Stickers", which features jokes about the Mummy and the Creature From the Black Lagoon, who of course never set foot in Transylvania.
Maybe I'm expecting too much from the Cracked writers.
A fairly mediocre collection that doesn't really live up to the cover--the preponderance of fumetti material, which I loved as a kid, doesn't age all that well. More John Severin!
1 comment:
I loved these and they responsible for my monster love.
The writing was half as good as MAD but those photos were why I bought them. The last one I picked up was in the late eighties.
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