Editor’s note: DC Comics President Paul Levitz returns to Blog@ once again to post memories of meeting Will Elder and E.C. Comics.
by Paul Levitz
The passing of Will Elder has me thinking of the amazing moment in time that was E.C. Comics. I think we met at 1972′s legendary E.C. Fan-Addict Convention, but that was my first encounter with so many great talents it’s kind of a blur, and I have a sweet thank you note from him in the file (the desk sometimes lets me get thanked for acts that are just common decency, but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the contact with the greats of my field).
Anyway, two forces seem to have come together at E.C.’s offices down at 225 Lafayette Street (an easy stroll from the Puck Building if you’re coming to town for the MOCCA event on June 7-8) — It’s full of our history, from the All-American offices that Max Gaines and Shelly Mayer presided over, to an artists’ studio shared by Steve Mitchell and Bob Smith decades later. The first was Bill Gaines’ singular gift for creating an atmosphere in which talent flourished and felt appreciated. Dick Giordano used to articulate a theory that running a comics company was mostly creating the environment in which great creative work could happen, then stepping back out of its way (Dick says this better, but I’m paraphrasing). No one was ever better at this than Bill. He was chief of the naughty boys, instigating, contributing, inspiring (and perhaps only topped by Elder as a prankster); the grown-up who somehow got them paid; and their chief fan.
The second was the additive, competitive nature of talented people. When a few start doing great work, it raises the bar for the others around them, and miraculous things happen. Whether you talk about E.C., or the Marvel bullpen a decade later, or DC in the mid-80s, the brilliance of the best work seems to help more people rise to the peak moments of their career. Sometimes it’s helped by leadership (I’ll never forget Stan re-enacting how he warmed artists up over a burger at Hamburger Hamlet), sometimes it just happens and it’s up to the historians to figure out why.
In any case, the young men of E.C. were an incomparable bunch, at a unique moment in their careers. I worked with many of them two decades later, when the fires weren’t always burning as brightly. But you still would’ve adored them: Joe Orlando, my mentor and the most elfin trickster and teacher ever to grace DC’s halls; George Evans, whose love of the planes he drew twinkled in his eyes; Johnny Craig, still sending in immaculate and precise pages…and even the guys who the years hadn’t treated as well: Woody, scribbling Superman in a knight’s armor on a napkin; Roy Krenkel, visiting Joe and hauling page after page of the most intricate pen illustrations out of a gigantic, weathered portfolio; and even Jack Oleck, coming in to plot a half-dozen or more stories in a morning, as Joe would twist around every springboard to try to give him a new challenge.
Some of the gang I got to know later; Harvey Kurtzman, Al Feldstein, gentlemanly Jack Davis (whose quick self-portrait adorning one of those aforementioned thank yous could hang in a gallery), even Harry Harrison, recalling an awkward young Joe Orlando starting out in the studio he shared with Woody, over sandwiches of solid cholesterol at the Stage Deli.
If you never picked up the E.C. books in any of their forms, check out either the Gemstone Archive editions or our MAD Archives. You may not have gotten to meet the magicians in person, but you can still feel the magic.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I’m loving the Mad Archives and wished they would come out with more frequency or perhaps as Absolute Editions with much more bonus material (I would love to see Kurtzman’s Thumbnail plots if they exist for any of the EC material).
The Mad Playboy of Art is a Will Elder retrospective that is well worth picking up.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Nice reflection, Paul. The EC gang still shows us how to do it! Their work stands the test of time.
I just want to make a clarification, with a personal remembrance: the studio you cite was shared by myself and Bob Smith, not Steve Mitchell. We were supposed to move into a small (but comfortable) office on the twelfth floor in 225 Laffayette St. on October 1, 1982. On moving day, the building manger greeted Bob and I and sheepishly informed us that he had already rented the twelfth floor office to someone else. To make amends, he’d let us have a space on the seventh floor (complete with a sink, at no extra charge!). The SEVENTH floor?? Bob and I immediately knew what that meant! We took it, and for the next six years, we were totally inspired, basking in the spirit of EC.
Batton Lash
May 17th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Sounds like a wonderful place, the way you describe it. Like a merge of the early Marvel and Valiant bullpens all into one.
But.. this seems so alien and infathomable to me. I was born in 1984, and altho I’ve read a few old reprints of Mad Magazine ( the HEAP! SUPER-DUPER MAN!) I don’t really know much about E.C comics, or their place in the American comics history.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
But where are my manors..?
My condolences to the friends, family and true fans of Will Elder.
He seemed like a very creative man, and it’s always a shame when the world loses those.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Sorry, Batton…foggy memory. Was that really 20 odd years ago..?