Essential Kurtzman #1

Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book — originally published in 1959 and collected here as the first volume in Dark Horse's Essential Kurtzman series — showcases the singular wit and draftsmanship of one of comics' most inventive minds. The cover, drawn and inked by Kurtzman himself, features a darkly silhouetted central figure on a motorcycle surrounded by a grotesque, leering crowd rendered in his characteristically expressive linework, framed by vivid green borders that give the whole thing an almost carnivalesque energy. With an introduction by Gilbert Shelton and an essay by Denis Kitchen, this 2014 volume is a genuinely worthwhile entry point into Kurtzman's boundary-pushing solo work.