Funny Books: Not Brand Echh!

Redartz:  Good day, everyone! To help us face this Monday, we are taking a funny break today, and looking at a classic bit of Marvel satire. Between 1967 and 1969, Marvel produced Not Brand Echh. And yes, I know that doesn't fall in the parameters of our Bronze Age, but some of those stories found print during our focus years. Actually, Marvel had a brief series called Crazy that reprinted issues of "Brechh" (as it is fondly known) in the early 70's. Here we have the original cover as presented in Not Brand Echh 6 from 1967, and on the right the reprint in Crazy 2 from 1973. By the way, this series of Crazy predated the magazine version of the same name, by four months.








 




















 The stories and art were provided by some of Marvel's big guns: Kirby, Tom Sutton, Gene Colan,  John and Marie Severin.  Later issues featured work by John Verpoorten, Jim Mooney, and Frank Springer, among others. Issue Most of the covers were the work of Marie Severin, who really shows her vast artistic skills over the course of this series. 


"Brechh" largely featured parodies of Marvel's own superhero stable, while also poking frequent fun at the Distinguished Competition.  Here, a certain Darknight Detective and a Son of Krypton get the treatment...

 

Occasionally, still other companies' properties were 'seen', including  Archie, Tower Comics and Gold Key (Archie, THUNDER Agents and Magnus, Robot Fighter, to be specific).  And later issues, released in the giant 25cent size, also contained Mad Magazine-style film and television pastiches. Frankenstein, Bonnie and Clyde, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner could be found in the satirical klieg lights of Not Brand Echh.




 
























 This title has a special place in my heart, as one of the earliest comics I ever bought as a boy was Not Brand Echh #5. I didn't understand all the references, but I loved the book. Jokes, both verbal and pictorial, abounded. The Origin of Forbush-Man was hilarious, and the Thung/Bulk battle featured swipes from and nods to several classic Thing/Hulk meetings. And note the wonderful details inserted within the panels.

Not Brand Echh certainly owed a debt to Mad Magazine, and to the other similar publications of the day. Yet Brechh had a special look and feel, due to the presence of the Marvel Bullpen. Writers including Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich gave us some witty, pun-filled features, and we saw that Marvel was quite capable of laughing at itself. The whole book sometimes felt like an extension of the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins, with all the self-referential comedy. At any rate, Not Brand Echh was a special, humorous highlight of Marvel's Silver Age. Aside from the stories that appeared in Crazy,  some stories have been reprinted in various 'Omnibus' editions. And for all the entertainment they contain, even today the back issues are a bargain. In closing, we present a few more covers and a few more samples...enjoy...

 

Pulled From the Pack: Wacky Packages!

Redartz: Today we introduce another category in our ever- increasing array of topics: "Pulled From the Pack", in which we will look at another fondly remembered  element of Bronze Age (and earlier, and later) childhood: trading cards! For the inaugural edition, we will yank the wrapper off of Wacky Packages- a very popular series of stickers (and cards) which featured parodies of well-known products. 

 
 
Wacky Packages were made by Topps, best known as a Premier manufacturer of baseball cards. "Wacky Packs" first appeared in the late 60's, and were revived to great reception in 1973. They were common trading fodder among kids throughout the 70's, and they have reappeared periodically ever since. And they may have a familiar style to comic fans: they artwork for the stickers was produced by some big names in alternative and popular comics: Jay Lynch, Tom Sutton, George Evans and Bill Griffith (who gave us Zippy). Indeed, while researching this topic, I was amazed to learn that the 'father' of Wacky Packages was none other than Art Spiegelman- the amazingly talented creator of the acclaimed graphic novel "Maus" (which may well be the subject of discussion some other day). 

I came to love "Wackys" in middle school. Among my frequent trips to the local drug store for Archie comics and baseball cards in the early 70's, I found these funny-looking packs of stickers for sale. Featuring some very familiar 'products' treated to a graphic version of the Dean Martin roast! They actually  had a slightly subversive feel (parents probably didn't find them so amusing) that really appealed to my pre-teen sense of humor. Therefore, my school notebook (and the closet door of my room) was soon adorned with "Crust Toothpaste", "Hostage Cup-cakes" and many other Wackys. And often, lunchtime at school would find a group of us trading stickers and snickering  over each one. Some of the parodies had great staying power in my memory: even today, at the supermarket, I can't see a bottle of Log Cabin pancake syrup without thinking of  "Log Cave-In". 

In 2008, Topps released a "Retro Set" of Wackys, representing some of the classic stickers from the 60's and 70's. In preparing for this post, I coughed up a few bucks on ebay, and got the whole set (all my original stickers being loooong gone). Best 7 dollars I've spent this week!

Obviously, we can't have a discussion about these stickers without looking at a few, so here we go:

 

As part of this retro set, several cards were included which depicted never-before used artwork. Here's a few of those:

 
So how many of you were captivated by these little 'provocateurs of Madison Avenue'?  And would you trade a "Liptorn Soup" for a "Swiss Mess" Cocoa?  I would...