Rest in peace, Will Elder

Wow. This is a bad one.

Will Elder, one of the most talented, influential and just-plain funny comic book artists who ever lived, has died at the age of 86.

I've written before about how seeing reprints of the comic book version of MAD as a kid was one of those road to Damascus moments in my life, a vision of comic book satire so startling that it actually scared me a bit. Wally Wood's babes were impressive, sure, and Jack Davis' art was intriguingly grungy, but it was Elder who really did it for me, whether it was his twisted version of Riverdale High in STARCHIE! or Melvin Mole using his last nosehair to dig a path straight to the electric chair in MOLE!

For instance, I can still remember seeing this panel of Wedgie Van Smelt trying to sell a freshman a school pass in STARCHIE! Funny, sure, and brilliantly drawn, but there's a darkness to the drawing, a way the characters have weight and menace the real Archie kids don't. People say Elder was a master mimic -- and he was, probably the best the field has ever seen -- but even that title is selling him short. He didn't just duplicate the styles of other artists, he twisted them slightly, revealing the rough sides of those smoooooth house-style pen lines.

And, all mimicking aside, the guy could draw too -- draw like a master. His own art style had an inviting, open feel that nevertheless made the most of well-placed shadows and varied line weights. Just check out this panel from MICKEY RODENT!, where Elder's own style offers a dark, disturbing contrast to the familiar, friendly style of the Disney studio. In fact, that's the joke!

I'm talking a lot about Elder's MAD work because (a) that's what really had an effect on me, and (b) I happen to have my copy of TOTALLY MAD handy, so it's easy to find images. But MAD was just the beginning for Elder -- he did brilliant work (usually with his friend and collaborator Harvey Kurtzman) for HUMBUG, TRUMP, HELP, PAGEANT and PLAYBOY. The "Goodman Beaver" strips for HELP are beautiful examples of Elder's black-and-white line work, and for luscious color cartooning, you really can't do any better than PLAYBOY'S "Little Annie Fanny." (Thankfully, almost all the Goodman strips are collected in Fantagraphic's massive WILL ELDER: THE MAD PLAYBOY OF ART, and almost all the Annie strips are available in two collections from Dark Horse. )

Speaking of, I really can't recommend MAD PLAYBOY OF ART highly enough. Besides the Goodman strips, it includes several strips from MAD and PANIC, rare stuff from PAGEANT, HUMBUG and TRUMP, lots of Elder's personal work (and it is bee-yoo-ti-ful) plus an extensive biography and, to top it all off, an intro from Dan Clowes. If you have any appreciation for satire, comic book art of just plain brilliant drawings, get yourself a copy post-haste.

I never had the chance to meet Mr. Elder, but I've read dozens of interviews with friends and co-workers, most of them still amazed at his sense of humor and the crazy practical jokes he used to pull. It's rare -- maybe even unique -- for such an apparently wild personality to be housed in the same body as such brilliant artistic skills, but in Will Elder's case, it was obviously the perfect combination.

We won't see the likes of him again. Just be glad we did at all.