Crazy Magazine #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCrazy Magazine #1 marks Marvel's first serious, sustained foray into the black-and-white humor magazine format, directly challenging MAD and Cracked on the newsstand where comics spinner racks didn't reach. Because it was published as a magazine rather than a code-approved comic book, it operated entirely outside the Comics Code Authority, giving Marvel's writers and artists creative latitude — bolder satire, sharper pop-culture commentary, and a looser visual vocabulary — that their regular four-color output simply couldn't accommodate. The debut issue assembled a genuinely eclectic roster that included science-fiction illustrator Frank Kelly Freas on the cover, Basil Wolverton and Harlan Ellison on an interior piece, and Mike Ploog spoofing the then-current ABC series Kung Fu, signaling that this title would reach well beyond the usual Marvel stable. That first issue launched a run of 94 issues spanning a full decade, making Crazy Magazine one of the most enduring humor titles the American comics industry produced in the Bronze Age.
"Kung Fooey" in Crazy Magazine #1 (1973) delivers a delightfully absurd take on human history, reimagined through the prehistoric adventures of anthropomorphized moose—complete with a tongue-in-cheek evolution arc. Written, drawn, and inked by Bob Foster, the story blends surreal humor with clever visual gags, all framed by the striking, satirical cover by Kelly Freas.
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The title's immediate predecessor was a three-issue standard-format comic book also called Crazy (early 1973), which simply reprinted parody material from the late-1960s Not Brand Echh — itself Marvel's earlier answer to MAD — and had no editorial connection to the new magazine. Later in 1973, Marvel repurposed the Crazy name for a proper black-and-white magazine, publishing the first fourteen issues through its Curtis Magazines imprint (named for Marvel's distributor, Curtis Circulation Company) before shifting to the parent imprint Magazine Management Co. for issues 15 through 94. Marv Wolfman edited the inaugural run through the first ten issues and the first Super Special, and during that tenure conceived the magazine's mascot — a small, bug-eyed figure in a broad black hat and cape who would eventually be named Irving Nebbish. According to later accounts, Stan Lee pushed for a tone closer to MAD while Wolfman favored something edgier and closer to the National Lampoon sensibility, and the tension between those two visions gave the early issues their distinctive character.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First issue went on sale July 10, 1973, with a cover date of October 1973; published under the Curtis Magazines imprint for issues 1–14.
- Cover art for issue #1 was by Frank Kelly Freas, the Hugo Award–winning science-fiction illustrator whose painted covers lent the debut an unusually polished, newsstand-magazine look.
- Interior contributors to issue #1 included science-fiction author Harlan Ellison (script) and cartoonist Basil Wolverton (art) on a post-apocalyptic parody piece titled 'Breaking and Entering Pandora's Box.'
- Mike Ploog drew 'Kung Fooey,' a parody of the ABC TV series Kung Fu, scripted by Stu Schwartzberg — an early example of the magazine's strategy of lampooning current pop-culture hits.
- Other issue #1 contributors included Marie Severin, Gerry Conway, Tony Isabella, Roy Thomas, and Jean Thomas, representing a broad cross-section of Marvel's early-1970s creative talent.
- As a Curtis/Magazine Management publication, Crazy Magazine #1 was produced outside Comics Code Authority oversight, allowing content and satirical angles unavailable to Marvel's regular line.
- Marv Wolfman edited the first ten issues and created the magazine's recurring mascot, later named Irving Nebbish, who served the same brand-identification role that Alfred E. Neuman held at MAD.
- The series ran for 94 issues (plus a Super Special) through April 1983, with subsequent editors including Steve Gerber and Larry Hama, making it one of Marvel's longest-lived non-superhero publications.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Crazy Super Special #1 (1975), Crazy Magazine #24 (1977), Crazy Magazine #61 (1980), Crazy Magazine #67 (1980), Crazy Magazine #70 (1981), Crazy Magazine #85 (1982), The Evolution & History of Moosekind #[nn] (1989), Junkwaffel #2 (1995), Marvel Firsts: The 1970s #2 (2012)
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