Books by Will Elder

Born in New York City in 1921, Will Elder was by all reports a compulsive doodler, covering the walls, windows and ceilings of his parents' apartment with drawings by the age of three. After graduating from New York's High School of Music and Art and studying at the Academy of Design, Elder began his professional comics work in 1946. By 1950, he had joined Harvey Kurtzman at E.C., working on such titles as TWO-FISTED TALES, FRONTLINE COMBAT and WEIRD FANTASY. But it wasn't until the debut of MAD that Elder's genius began to show. From the very first issue, his unmistakable style -- which filled panels to overflowing with sight gags and one-liners -- set the standard for MAD's cluttered and frenzied comedy.
When Kurtzman left E.C., Elder went with him and continued their partnership through the regrettably brief runs of Trump, Humbug, and Help!. Then, in 1962, Elder and Kurtzman began their longest and most labor-intensive collaboration -- a fully painted strip for Playboy entitled Little Annie Fanny. The first such strip to be printed in full-process color, Little Annie Fanny required months of work for each episode, and eventually occupied Elder (and several other contributing artists) full time for 20 years. Following a brief reunion with Kurtzman for MAD in the mid-1980s, Elder retired from professional cartooning in 1988. In 2003 he was inducted into the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame, the same year that Fantagraphics Books published the career retrospective Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art. Elder passed away on May 14th, 2008.