Harvey Kurtzman

Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist, writer, and editor renowned for founding and editing the satirical comic book Mad from its inception in 1952 through issue 28 in 1956, establishing a benchmark for parodic humor that targeted advertising, media, and cultural clichés. Prior to Mad, Kurtzman worked at EC Comics, where he edited the war titles Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, producing stories grounded in historical research that portrayed combat's brutality without heroic romanticism, influencing subsequent realistic depictions in the genre.

Kurtzman's editorial tenure at Mad featured collaborations with artists like Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Wallace Wood, yielding iconic spoofs such as "Starchie" and "Melvin," which dissected suburban conformity and horror tropes amid the post-World War II boom. After departing EC over profit-sharing disagreements with publisher William Gaines, he pursued independent ventures including the upscale satire magazine Trump (1957), the collaborative Humbug (1957–1958), and Help! (1960–1965), which foreshadowed underground comix through experimental formats and contributor talent like Robert Crumb.

Harvey Kurtzman was born on October 3, 1924, in a Brooklyn tenement to Ukrainian Jewish immigrant parents whose origins traced to regions including Odessa. His father died from a bleeding ulcer when Kurtzman was four, leaving his mother to support the family through frequent relocations amid the economic privations of the Great Depression.

Of Ukrainian Jewish immigrant heritage, the family incorporated cultural elements such as attendance at Jewish summer camps in Kurtzman's youth, though he later distanced himself from dogmatic aspects. The home environment emphasized stability and enabled Kurtzman's creative risks by prioritizing domestic practicality over professional entanglements.