Sick #127, 4 of 4

One of the very last issues of Sick, #127 from June 1979. The previous three parts are here, here, and here.

Parody of Casey At the Bat illustrated by editor Jack Sparling.

They couldn't afford a typesetter so sometimes the text of the articles was handwritten.

When I was 9 and had this magazine, my mother was looking through it, and came upon this feature. While not throwing it away or forbidding me from reading it like I've heard some parents have done upon seeing ribaldry in children's literature, she said something like “I'm not sure this is meant for nine-year-olds.” She also said that reading the 'Eye-Balling' feature which she said was too sophisticated.

I'm not sure what this “Cher” feature was doing in the magazine myself. I probably would have said something similar to my mother.

If someone were to subscribe with this issue, they wouldn't have gotten a whole years' worth. I wonder if they got a refund.

Inside back cover.

Sick #127, 1 of 4

I've been posting humor magazines here every week, mostly from Sick. Here's one of the final issues from June 1979. It had seen better days at this point, and had already been on a steady decline for some time. They'd gone through several publishers, eventually being part of Charlton Publications, itself on its last legs. Rumor had it they were mob-run and were the lowest-paying company in the business, supposedly paying in contributor copies in its final years.

They started out in the twenties publishing Song Hits and Hit Parader, reprinting song lyrics to popular songs transcribed from the radio. The publisher did time in prison, not knowing that you needed permission to print song lyrics. Unlike most publishers based in cities like New York, they were located in Derby, CT and did mostly work in-house. The printing was done in the same building most of the comics were written and drawn in, using a printing press meant for packaging. It showed with registration marks, serial numbers, and sometimes perforations in the newsprint.

You could tell the writers and artists of the comics were sometimes overworked, since names of characters often changed in the middle of stories. Because they chose not to be located in a big city, the entire town was flooded, and the comics staff was required to take a decrease in page rates. They took ads out on the front covers. Except for a few years following the 60s Batman craze, they eschewed the dominant genre of comics, superheroes, since most of their product was sold at military PXs rather than newsstands.

But enough about Charlton and back to Sick. Most of the work was done by editor Jack Sparling, who probably did most of the pages himself because he was unable to pay for many contributors. (More on evidence of a low budget later). Much of the decline can be attributed to the staff moving on to higher paying and more prestigious venues, particularly longtime editor and contributor Paul Laikin, who was already writing for every other humor magazine.

The mascot, Huckleberry Fink, was now hidden in a knight outfit, since they had a cease and desist order from main competitor Mad who claimed he looked too much like Alfred E. Neuman, himself a public domain character that Mad managed to make a registered trademark.

Behold the cover by Sparling.

This was a wraparound cover. Here it was with the back.

One of my first printed works was a letter to Sick in 1980.

Part of the magazine's low production values were typed lettering rather than typeset, and lack of watercolor tones. It was likely they never saw Mork and Mindy, the object of parody, and it was sad to see that George Kashdan, one of the main writers for DC Comics in the mid 50s and 60s, credited here.

The artist here, Bill Burke, (presumably not the same one from Wizard of Oz) who as far as I know never did any work for anyone but Crazy and Sick.

CRAZY #20

More from Crazy commemorating the Bicentennial, this time it's October 1976.

Cover by new artist Bob Larkin. Parody of Space:1999 by Len Herman and Ernie Colón David Kelly was probably a pen name of Paul Laikin, who wrote much of the issue himself. Art by Murad Gumen. The late Bill DuBay Caricatures by Kent Gamble. I'm not sure who the radio guy is supposed to be. He mentions this piece in the interview he did for If You're Cracked You're Happy:

”Well, a few weeks later I got a script in the mail from Paul. It was just a one-page thing with singers on it like Elton John, Frank Sinatra, a few singers. Anyway, I did that one page, he liked it, and a few weeks later I got a TV satire of Barney Miller. That was my first one.” They did lots of articles about how dangerous New York and other cities supposedly were, like this article drawn by Jack Sparling. Always trying to fit in the “Make Mine Marvel” attitude, they added this and used a stock drawing by Marie Severin. Ad campaign they had then for Timex watches, showing how damage to the watches would not stop them from running. Alan Kupperberg. Veteran comics artist ”Darlin'” Dick Ayers I don't know what's supposed to be on the bottom either. In case you were wondering, or care, the actual translations would be »Cтоп! Обед!» and “Devo dire a mio padre o vero?” This was the back cover. The other side was the stats that would be on the back of real baseball cards, and you could cut them up and pretend they were cards.