JUNGLE BOOK by HARVEY KURTZMAN. (3rd printing 1988)

We won't mince words. This is simply one of the most influential comic creations of all time. Created in 1959 by MAD-founder Harvey Kurtzman after two crushing failures (Trump and Humbug), Jungle Book was created for paperback book pioneer Ian Ballantine. It was the very first paperback of all original comics and arguably was the first graphic novel as well. There are four stories, each parodying an element of popular culture: "Theolonius Violence" is a take-off on the then-popular TV detective show Peter Gunn, complete with blaring jazz riffs in the background and ---what else is new?--- heavy doses of violence. "Organization Man in the Grey Flannel Executive Suite" is a jaundiced look at the publishing industry. It's partially autobiographical---based on Kurtzman's stint at publisher Martin Goodman's Atlas/Marvel/men's magazine sweat shop in the '40s.

This story also introduces Goodman Beaver, whose later adventures (in collaboration with Will Elder) appeared in Help! magazine and who later morphed, oddly enough, into Playboy's Little Annie Fanny. "Compulsion on the Range" parodies TV's long-running Gunsmoke in particular and westerns in general. The final story, "Decadence Degenerated," is a dark but hilarious look both into the minds of men and into the deep south of the '50s. Jungle Book is an undeniable classic. Its impact on a generation of underground cartoonists has been acknowledged by R. Crumb, Denis Kitchen and Art Spiegelman, who provides a hand-lettered "Intro." Spiegelman refers to keeping "the loose yellowed pages" of his tattered Ballantine edition of Jungle Book "in a plastic bag ...handled with all the care of due a sacred text."

The Intro is followed by an "Outro" by Harvey Kurtzman and Dave Schreiner. Jungle Book is also unusual and special in that it represents "pure" Harvey Kurtzman, an artist's artist. It's one of the relatively few creations he wrote, pencilled and inked himself (see also The Grasshopper and the Ant, Hey Look!, and his E.C. war stories).

This is the 3rd printing of the softcover edition published by Kitchen Sink Press in 1988. For the first time, Kurtzman's amazing original art was shot in high resolution and printed the way it should have been in 1959. New edition measures 6 3/8" x 11".

Like new condition. Too long out of print! Price: $25.00

[See Kurtzman Original Art if you are interested in purchasing Kurtzman Jungle Book original art.]