Satirist Will Elder goes to Heaven

Tref · 05-24-2008, 11:45 PM

Growing up, I was always an enormous fan of Bill Elder's work and to this day, I will give away copies of Inside Mad to new friends, who may have never witnessed his genius.

From the New York Times

Will Elder, whose frantic, gag-filled illustrations helped to define the comic identity of Mad magazine ... died Wednesday in Rockleigh, N.J. He was 86.

A dead-on caricaturist with an anarchic sense of humor, Mr. Elder stuffed the backgrounds ... with inane puns, silly signs and weird characters doing strange things.

“That approach to humor seeped into the rest of the magazine and the DNA of its contributors,” said John Ficarra, the editor of Mad. “It set the tone for the entire magazine and created a look that endures to this day.”

Mr. Elder called these background fillers “chicken fat,” explaining that they were “the part of the strip that gave it some flavor but did little to advance the story line.” This layered, free-for-all approach influenced the cartoons of R. Crumb and films like “Airplane!” and the “Naked Gun” series.

To read the article, click here

Will Elder

Deebs · 05-25-2008, 12:15 AM

Gn2Dlnd · 05-25-2008, 12:26 AM

This, from an old MAD magazine has always stuck in my mind.

Man out of breath: "Pant, pant, pant, press, pant!"

It was one of those jokes that I knew was a joke, but didn't get. Until I learned that to "press" was another expression for "iron." Ha!

flippyshark · 05-25-2008, 09:40 AM

I will admit that I was actually unaware that Elder was (until now) still alive. As a kid, I spent long hours gazing at all the "chicken fat" in panel after panel of reprints from the early days of MAD. The often surreal, sometimes even creepy, always absurd world they created was, to me, much more compelling than the humor in the main text. (Though that was often quite clever and memorable as well.) I've got teh complete run of MAD on dvd-rom, but i'd love to have a high-quality, line art only bound book of this material. (The scans of old printed pages obscures a lot of the details on the DVD, alas.) Rest in Peace and thanks for all the inspired weirdness, Willie!

Bornieo: Fully Loaded · 05-26-2008, 07:27 PM

I met him very briefly at Comic COn a few years ago. He was already very elderly but I got an EC book signed by him.

RIP -

Kevy Baby · 05-27-2008, 05:53 PM

No relation

05-24-2008, 11:45 PM	#1
Tref Not Tref Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,188	Satirist Will Elder goes to Heaven Growing up, I was always an enormous fan of Bill Elder's work and to this day, I will give away copies of Inside Mad to new friends, who may have never witnessed his genius. From the New York Times Will Elder, whose frantic, gag-filled illustrations helped to define the comic identity of Mad magazine ... died Wednesday in Rockleigh, N.J. He was 86. A dead-on caricaturist with an anarchic sense of humor, Mr. Elder stuffed the backgrounds ... with inane puns, silly signs and weird characters doing strange things. “That approach to humor seeped into the rest of the magazine and the DNA of its contributors,” said John Ficarra, the editor of Mad. “It set the tone for the entire magazine and created a look that endures to this day.” Mr. Elder called these background fillers “chicken fat,” explaining that they were “the part of the strip that gave it some flavor but did little to advance the story line.” This layered, free-for-all approach influenced the cartoons of R. Crumb and films like “Airplane!” and the “Naked Gun” series. To read the article, click here Will Elder __________________ Tref3.0 Listen in aural 3-D to Pop's muzak! (New songs added semi-bi-daily) j & j Did you know that Emas eht yltcaxe is exactly the same spelled backwards?!
	Submit to Quotes

05-25-2008, 12:15 AM	#2
Deebs ... Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 961
	Submit to Quotes

05-25-2008, 12:26 AM	#3
Gn2Dlnd Parmmadore Jim Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Casita del Queso Posts: 3,810	This, from an old MAD magazine has always stuck in my mind. Man out of breath: "Pant, pant, pant, press, pant!" It was one of those jokes that I knew was a joke, but didn't get. Until I learned that to "press" was another expression for "iron." Ha! __________________ Does anyone still wear a hat?
	Submit to Quotes

05-25-2008, 09:40 AM	#4
flippyshark Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 2,852	I will admit that I was actually unaware that Elder was (until now) still alive. As a kid, I spent long hours gazing at all the "chicken fat" in panel after panel of reprints from the early days of MAD. The often surreal, sometimes even creepy, always absurd world they created was, to me, much more compelling than the humor in the main text. (Though that was often quite clever and memorable as well.) I've got teh complete run of MAD on dvd-rom, but i'd love to have a high-quality, line art only bound book of this material. (The scans of old printed pages obscures a lot of the details on the DVD, alas.) Rest in Peace and thanks for all the inspired weirdness, Willie!
	Submit to Quotes

05-26-2008, 07:27 PM	#5
Bornieo: Fully Loaded Lego Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Disneyland, USA Posts: 3,704	I met him very briefly at Comic COn a few years ago. He was already very elderly but I got an EC book signed by him. RIP -
	Submit to Quotes

05-27-2008, 05:53 PM	#6
Kevy Baby Chowder Head Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Yes Posts: 18,500	No relation __________________ The thing about quotes on the internet is that you cannot verify their validity. - Abraham Lincoln
	Submit to Quotes