Crazy #68 - Marvel

Nov. 1980 - "The magazine that dares to be dumb!"

A very timely and beautifully painted cover (by Bob Larkin) adorns this issue of Crazy. Makes me miss the old arcade that I spent many hours in...

Anyway, this issue starts off with an extremely cynical and downbeat fake Army ad (drawn by Herb Trimpe and Al Milgrom) that basically suggests we're all going to get vaporized in a nuclear holocaust soon. *Whew*, time for Obnoxio the Clown, eh?

The main parody of this issue is, of all things, a take-off on American Giggolo, written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Gary Hallgren:

There's the first of a series of one-page gag strips by an artist named Kovacs, who was sort of Crazy's answer to Don Martin.

Next is a recurring feature, Teen Hulk, by Jim Owlsley and Ron Wilson:

Following this is a fumetti segment called "Sugar Junkies", about a rock band, then "Self Defense for Girls" (by Joey (a girl) Epstein--that's what the credit reads), a one-page gag featuring Spider-Man (drawn by Ed Hannigan and Milgrom, so it looks just like a "regular" Marvel comic), "Crazy Visits The First Day of School", again by Kupperberg and drawn by Ned Sonntag, and then a really interesting piece, "Target...Earth!":

This is an old Marvel monster comic by Lee and Ditko with all-new dialogue by Marc Bilgrey. Its not terribly funny, but it seems more irreverent just from it goofing on a previous Marvel comic.

There's another Howard the Duck feature by Steve Skeates and Pat Broderick, then Obnoxio the Clown by Alan Kupperberg, followed by a piece that I think ranks as one of the best things Crazy ever did:

Goofing on Star Wars is old hat now, but so deliberately replicating a Kenner toy ad in 1980 must have been seemed pretty...well, crazy. And swapping out Star Wars for Kramer vs. Kramer makes it even better.

There's another parody piece, "The Dupes of Haggard", by Murad Gumen and Kent Gamble, followed by a fake ad for aspirin, ending on the back cover with an ad for a "204 pc. Urban Riot Figures" set, looking like those old ads that ran in comics for decades.


All in all, a pretty funny issue (though I did miss Mike Carlin's "Page O'Stuff"), with some real highlights. Crazy was really giving Mad a run for its money!