Major Publications

Last updated
Major Publications
Status defunct (1994)
Founded 1958
Founder Robert C. Sproul
Country of origin United States of America
Headquarters location Long Island
Key people Sol Brodsky, John Severin, Terry Bisson
Publication types Comic magazines
Fiction genres Humor, Horror, Western, Adventure
Imprints Humor-Vision
Globe Communications

Major Publications, also known as Major Magazines, was the publisher of the satirical magazine Cracked , the most durable imitator of Mad magazine. Founded by Robert C. Sproul in 1958, the company generally imitated other publishers' successes in various genres, such as Westerns, men's adventure, and the Warren Publications mid-1960s revival of horror comics. [1] Even as the company chased publishing trends, its long-running flagship title was Cracked, which the company published from 1958–1985.

Cracked is a defunct American humor magazine. Founded in 1958, Cracked proved to be the most durable of the many publications to be launched in the wake of Mad magazine.

Mad is an American humor magazine founded in 1952 by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, launched as a comic book before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and influential, affecting satirical media, as well as the cultural landscape of the 20th century, with editor Al Feldstein increasing readership to more than two million during its 1974 circulation peak. From 1952 until 2018, Mad published 550 regular issues, as well as hundreds of reprint "Specials", original-material paperbacks, reprint compilation books and other print projects. The magazine's numbering reverted to 1 with its June 2018 issue, coinciding with the magazine's headquarters move to the West Coast.

Western comics comic genre

Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published from the late 1940s through the 1950s. Western comics of the period typically featured dramatic scripts about cowboys, gunfighters, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, and Native Americans. Accompanying artwork depicted a rural America populated with such iconic images as guns, cowboy hats, vests, horses, saloons, ranches, and deserts, contemporaneous with the setting.

Contents

The company also published a number of monster-themed magazines, imitating publications like Fangoria and Famous Monsters of Filmland . Editor Terry Bisson recalled:

<i>Famous Monsters of Filmland</i>

Famous Monsters of Filmland is an American genre-specific film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.

Terry Bisson American science fiction and fantasy author

Terry Ballantine Bisson is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He is best known for his short stories including "Bears Discover Fire", which won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award and "They're Made Out of Meat".

History

Cracked

Cracked's first editor was Sol Brodsky. Over the years, Bill Ward and John Severin were regular contributors to most of the company's publications. The production manager throughout the 1960s was Charles Foster.

Sol Brodsky American comic book artist

Soloman Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects. "Sol was really my right-hand man for years", described Marvel editor and company patriarch Stan Lee.

Bill Ward (cartoonist) American art director

William Hess Ward, known as Bill Ward, was an American cartoonist notable as a good girl artist and creator of the risqué comics character Torchy.

John Severin artist

John Powers Severin was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, especially its war and Western comics; and for his 45-year stint with the satiric magazine Cracked. He was one of the founding cartoonists of Mad in 1952.

In addition to the flagship title, Major put out a number of publications under the Cracked umbrella, including Cracked Collector's Edition, Giant Cracked, and Super Cracked. Many Cracked contributors worked on these titles.

Web of Horror

The most notable of Major's black-and-white horror magazines was Web of Horror, edited by Bisson, which published three issues from 1969–1970. Bruce Jones made his professional debut in Web of Horror #3, writing and drawing the six-page story "Point of View." Wayne Howard contributed to issue #1. Syd Shores penciled "Blood Thirst!" in #1 and "Strangers!" in #3. Ralph Reese was a regular contributor to Web of Horror. Other contributors included Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, and Jeff Jones.

Bruce Eliot Jones whose pen names include Philip Roland and Bruce Elliot, is an American comic book writer, novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter whose work included writing Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk from 2001 to 2005.

Wayne Howard American comic artist

Wayne W. Howard was an African-American comic book artist. He is best known for his 1970s work at Charlton Comics, where he became American comic books' first series creator known to be credited on covers, with the horror anthology Midnight Tales announcing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue — "a declaration perhaps unique in the industry at the time".

Sydney Shores was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books.

Bisson left after issue #3, leaving the editorial chores to Wrightson and Bruce Jones. As Wrightson recalls,

Sale to Globe Communications

In 1985, founder Sproul sold the company's assets to Globe Communications, which moved the operations to Florida and continued to published Cracked and some of its affiliated magazines under the Major Magazines name. Globe sold the assets to American Media in 1994.

Titles published

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References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Web of Horror Index. Enjolrasworld.com (2008-09-15). Retrieved on 2010-11-26.
  2. Bernie Wrightson interview, Comic Book Artist #4 (Spring 1999).

Sources consulted

The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project is cataloging information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful to the comic book reader, comic collector, fan, and scholar. The GCD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Arkansas.