Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 22, 2023 | 2 comments

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE to one of the architects of an American institution…

By PETER BOSCH 

Wolf William Eisenberg, better known to his fans as Will Elder or Bill Elder, was one of the original Mad men. His zany artwork appeared in the very first issue of the comic book and he was a fun part of the issues that followed.

Born September 22, 1921 (some sources incorrectly list it as 1922) in the Bronx, he took to drawing early and always excelled at humor. With Elder’s Mad stories, you didn’t read them once. You went back a second or third time to catch all the fun details that were slipped in. For example, in the splash page below for “Outer Sanctum!” (Mad #5, June-July 1953), there are almost two dozen gags scattered over the four panels. Elder could also imitate the styles of other artists with ease (check out the “Starchie,” “Bringing Back Father!”, and “Poopeye!” satires below).

Here are 13 of Elder’s best pages from those early Mad comic books, including a couple covers. Enjoy! (All stories written by Harvey Kurtzman.)

Mad #1 (Oct.-Nov. 1952)

Mad #4 (Apr.-May 1953)

Mad #5 (June-July 1953)

Mad #5 (June-July 1953)

Mad #8 (Dec. 1953-Jan. 1954)

Mad #9 (Mar. 1954)

Mad #10 (Apr. 1954) – “Woman Wonder!” interior page

Mad #12 (June 1954)

Mad #16 (Oct. 1954)

Mad #16 (Oct. 1954)

Mad #17 (Nov. 1954)

Mad #21 (Mar. 1955)

Mad #22 (Apr. 1955) Yes, that is Will Elder in the photo.

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— 13 MAD FOLD-INS: An AL JAFFEE Tribute. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. He is currently at work on a sequel, about movie comics. Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.