Al Feldstein 1925 – 2014: American humor pioneer also contributed to Graphic Classics

Al Feldstein, the longtime editor of Mad Magazine, died April 29, 2014.  Through a long career in comics Feldstein contributed to the original line of EC Comics, developing titles as Tales From the Crypt, Weird Fantasy and Weird Science before embarking on a long career as Editor of Mad, which under his leadership achieved a circulation in excess of 2,000,000 copies a month by the 1970s. In its May 1 obituary, the Washington Post wrote of Feldstein’s influence on American culture:

Decades later, its mischievous DNA still runs through the skits of “Saturday Night Live,” the spoofs of the Onion, the self-aware political satire of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and the standup routines of countless comedians. In that sense, as Washington Post writer Peter Carlson noted in 1997, it is no exaggeration to call Mad “the most influential American magazine of the postwar era.”

Feldstein also contributed two pieces to Grand Design Communications client Graphic Classics, with fully painted pieces appearing in Western Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 20 and Halloween Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 23.

Painting by Al Feldstein from Western Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 20

Painting by Al Feldstein from Halloween Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 23