Humorama: Bill Ward Vintage Sleaze Paperback Covers for Novel Press

The redoubtable Double D artist Bill Ward contributes two covers to the Chicago-based Novel Books.

WHAT WAS HUMORAMA?

The Humorama line was a small offshoot of Martin Goodman's empire known as Timely Features. Goodman eventually produced Marvel comics, but his first bucks were made with pulp western tales in the 1930s. Cowboys, horses, bandits and oats were good for Goodman, and he was eventually responsible for nearly 100 monthly titles. Enough to turn the nation's virgin forests into a pile of pulp to be delivered to your local newsstand on a regular basis. Today the vast majority of them are in landfills, but a loyal group of fans stick them in bags and file them in boxes.

Humorama was the dirty comics and pasty pin-ups sprout of Timely Features, a mere speck in Goodman's vast empire of stapled popular ooze. He let his brother Abe run the show. Martin made big bucks on True Detective type stuff and the Marvel line, but Abe's Humorama line delivered enough dough to sustain a dozen titles every month for YEARS.

Most of the Humorama digests had onomatopoeia titles. Reading the list sounds like a Three Stooges soundtrack. Extensive bibliographic records for the rags seem to be missing...I guess the Library of Congress was more concerned with National Geographic. Each issue delivered 35 cents worth of cuties and cartoons. You would think the endless number of titles published would saturate the market, but they were dirt cheap to produce and the artists were paid big squat. So were the models, which included Bettie Page and Julie Newmar along with a hoard of country-raised "starlets" who never made it. Who knows how many great-grandmothers have a crusty issue of Zip or Snappy in the attic with their brief moment of fame in their briefs. Someday someone will scan each issue, index the names and make them famous all over again. Some of the cartoonists already are...Bill Ward, Dan DeCarlo, Bill Wenzel, but a hundred more you've never heard of. I'm doing my best to give them a little attention.

Below is a list of the Humorama digests. This site collects articles and items from the Jim Linderman collection of Humorama drawings and more.

Breezy • Cartoon Parade • Comedy • Eyeful of Fun • Fun House • Gaze • Gee-Whiz • Humorama • Instant Laughs • Jest • Joker • Laugh Circus • Laugh Digest • Laugh Riot • Popular Cartoons • Popular Jokes • Romp • Stare • Snappy • Zip

Humorama

Bill Ward Vintage Sleaze Paperback Covers for Novel Press

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