Mad #6
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #6 (August–September 1953) holds a firm, documented place in comic-book history as the issue containing 'Ping Pong!', the very first film parody ever published in Mad — a seven-page send-up of King Kong scripted by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by Will Elder that launched what would become the title's most enduring editorial tradition. By establishing that pop cinema itself was fair game for full-scale satirical dismemberment, the issue pointed Mad toward the template that would define American humor publishing for decades. The four-story lineup — covering adventure comic strips, literary poetry, Tarzan pulp fiction, and Hollywood monster movies — demonstrates how rapidly Kurtzman was expanding Mad's satirical range in only its sixth outing, broadening its targets from genre parody toward specific, named cultural touchstones. That editorial ambition, visible in embryo here, is a direct ancestor of the film-and-TV parody format that hundreds of later issues would refine.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Mad was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines as a 10-cent color comic book within EC's Lafayette Street publishing operation, debuting in October–November 1952. By issue #6, Kurtzman was writing every story himself and orchestrating his rotating core of artists — Wally Wood, Will Elder, John Severin, and Jack Davis — to handle distinct pieces within each issue, a collaborative production model that gave the early run its varied visual texture. Colorist Marie Severin is documented as having worked on EC production during this period, with Harvey Kurtzman himself credited with coloring his own cover art. The issue appeared while Mad was still a bi-monthly, before William Gaines's mid-1953 expansion plans accelerated the title to monthly frequency beginning with the April 1954 issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August–September 1953 by EC Comics (cover date), the sixth issue of Mad during its original run as a 10-cent full-color comic book.
- Cover art by Harvey Kurtzman, who also scripted all four stories in the issue.
- 'Ping Pong!' — a seven-page King Kong parody drawn by Will Elder — is documented as Mad's first-ever film spoof, originating the movie-parody format that would become the title's signature feature for over 60 years.
- The four stories are: 'Teddy and the Pirates!' (art: Wally Wood), a Terry and the Pirates parody; 'Melvin of the Apes!' (art: John Severin), a sequel to the Tarzan parody begun in issue #2; 'Casey at the Bat!' (art: Jack Davis), a humorous illustrated treatment of Ernest Lawrence Thayer's poem; and 'Ping Pong!' (art: Bill Elder), the King Kong spoof.
- Charles Atlas appears in this issue as an advertiser — EC's comic-book-era Mad issues carried real commercial advertisements, as the title had not yet moved to its later policy of replacing all ads with parodies.
- The movie-parody feature that 'Ping Pong!' inaugurated is credited by comics historians to issue #6, with later artists like Mort Drucker eventually expanding it into one of the longest-running editorial features in American magazine history.
- Issue #6 is included in The Mad Archives Vol. 1 (DC Comics, 2002), the hardcover collection covering Mad #1–6, making the entire issue's contents accessible in a widely distributed reprint format.
- 'Ping Pong!' was also reprinted in Mad Special #12, confirming the story's recognition as a standout piece worthy of later anthology inclusion.
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Reprinted in Mad Strikes Back #[nn] (1955), Utterly Mad #4 (1956), Mad for Keeps #[nn] (1958), The Bedside Mad #S1647 (1959), Mad Strikes Back #491K (1961), The Brothers Mad #5 (U2105) (1963), The Bedside Mad #D2316 (1964), The Bedside Mad #P3520 (1968), Mad Strikes Back #01564 (1969), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #9 (1972), Charlie Mensuel #47 (1972), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #12 (1973), Mad Strikes Back #03373-6 (1973), The Brothers Mad #5 (24331) (1975), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #21 (1976), The Brothers Mad #[5] (1976), Utterly Mad #[4] (1976), Stripschrift #99 (1977), The Bedside Mad #6 (88-893) (1979), The Complete Color Mad #1 (1986), Mad about the Fifties #[nn] (1997), Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad #2 (1997), Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad #7 (1999), Mad Strikes Back #[nn] (2002) + 9 more
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