Page "Mad (magazine)" Paragraph 22

However, just how much of that success was due to the original Kurtzman template that he left for his successor, and how much should be credited to the Al Feldstein system and the depth of the post-Kurtzman talent pool, can be argued without resolution.

In 2009, an interviewer proposed to Al Jaffee, " There's a group of Mad afficionados who feel that if Harvey Kurtzman had stayed at Mad, the magazine would not only have been different, but better.

" Jaffee, a Kurtzman enthusiast, replied, " And then there's a large group who feel that if Harvey had stayed with Mad, he would have upgraded it to the point that only fifteen people would buy it.

" During Kurtzman's final two-plus years at EC, Mad appeared erratically ( ten issues appeared in 1954, followed by eight issues in 1955 and four issues in 1956 ).

Feldstein was less well regarded creatively, but kept the magazine on a regular schedule, leading to decades of success.

( Kurtzman and Will Elder returned to Mad for a short time in the mid-1980s as an illustrating team.