Will Elder

William Elder (aka Bill Elder) (born September 22, 1921 in the Bronx, New York) is an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art yet is best known for a zany cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952. Kurtzman and Elder met when they were students at New York's High School of Music and Art.

Related Topics:
September 22 - 1921 - Bronx - New York - Illustrator - Comic book - Harvey Kurtzman - Mad

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In the late 1940s, the two teamed with Charles Stern to form the Charles William Harvey Studio, creating comics between 1948 and 1951 for Prize Comics and other publishers. At EC Comics, he inked John Severin's pencils on stories for Weird Fantasy, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat and other EC titles.

Related Topics:
John Severin - Weird Fantasy - Two-Fisted Tales - Frontline Combat

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Elder was one of the original five artists when Kurtzman created Mad in 1952, and his wacky panels, filled with background gags, immediately attracted attention, first with "Ganefs!" in Mads debut issue but especially in the second issue with "Mole!" The story depicted the successive efforts of prisoner Melvin Mole to tunnel away from the prison, first with a spoon, then with a toothpick and finally with a nostril hair. The wild exaggeration in this story left such a strong impression that it was often quoted ("Dig! Dig!") and even referenced years later in a Psychology Today illustration.

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Whatever humorous slant Kurtzman devised in his layouts received a heightened hilarity and amplification when Elder sat down to draw the finished art, and Elder's insertion of background gags set the tone for the entire comic book, quickly spreading throughout into the panels of the other Mad artists and other comic books imitating Mad. Elder's device of separate foreground and background actions was referenced by Louis Malle in his film Zazie dans le métro (1960).

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He frequently collaborated with Harvey Kurtzman. After leaving Mad they worked together on a string of short lived humor magazines: Trump, Humbug and Help!. For Help!, Elder satirized Archie Comics with a "Goodman Beaver" strip, and the resulting lawsuit prohibited it from ever being reprinted. The parody is considered by many to be Elder and Kurtzman's greatest collaboration. The series was reprinted by Kitchen Sink Press with each panel expanded to page size so the readers could see all the little gags.

Related Topics:
Mad - Trump - Help! - Archie Comics - Kitchen Sink Press

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In the 1960s, Elder and Kurtzman worked for Playboy Magazine on Little Annie Fanny. The series followed the adventures of a busty blonde as everything in sight was parodied. The strip was recently collected by Dark Horse Comics in two volumes.

Related Topics:
1960s - Playboy - Little Annie Fanny - Dark Horse Comics

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Elder's ads, caricatures, cartoons, illustrations and stories were collected in the 392-page career retrospective, Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art (ISBN 1560976039) (Fantagraphics, 2003).

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