''Help!'' was an American satire magazine that was published by James Warren from 1960 to 1965. It was Harvey Kurtzman's longest-running magazine project after leaving '' Mad'' and EC Publications, and during its five years of operation it was chronically underfunded, yet innovative. In starting ''Help!'', Kurtzman brought along several artists from his ''Mad'' collaborations, including

Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...

, Jack Davis, John Severin and

Al Jaffee Allan Jaffee (born Abraham Jaffee; March 13, 1921) is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine '' Mad'', including his trademark feature, the ''Mad'' Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine ...

. Kurtzman's assistants included Charles Alverson,

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

and

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a c ...

; the last was helpful in gathering the celebrity comedians who appeared on the covers and the

fumetti Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

strips the magazine ran along with more traditional comics and text pieces. Among the then little-known performers in the fumetti were

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

and Milt Kamen; better-known performers such as Orson Bean were also known to participate. Some of the fumetti were scripted by

Bernard Shir-Cliff Bernard W. Shir-Cliff (November 7, 1924-February 28, 2017) was an editor for Ballantine Books, Contemporary Books, Warner Books and other publishers, who also translated books and later became a well-known literary agent. As a senior editor at Warn ...

. At ''Help!'', Gilliam met Cleese for the first time, resulting in their collaboration years later on ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became ...

''. Cleese appeared in a Gilliam

fumetto Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

written by David Crossley, "Christopher's Punctured Romance". The tale concerns a man who is shocked to learn that his daughter's new "Barbee" doll has "titties"; however, he falls in love with the doll and has an affair. Gilliam appeared on two covers of ''Help!'' and along with the rest of the creative team, appeared in crowd scenes in several fumetti. The magazine introduced young talents who went on to influential careers in

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority ...

as well as the mainstream: among them Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton and

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and other science fiction writers were regular contributors of prose and scripts to the magazine. Working with a minimal budget, Kurtzman relied on a combination of cheap up-and-coming talent, favors called in to "name" friends (such as cover poses by

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

, Mort Sahl or

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

) and inexpensive page-fillers (such as inserting dialogue balloons into news photos and publicity stills). Somewhat more adult and risque than '' Mad'', ''Help!'' was nonetheless less sexually explicit or taboo-breaking than the contemporaneous '' The Realist'' or the later underground comix and '' National Lampoon'' were or would be. The magazine got into some hot water in 1962, thanks to a story in the February 1962 issue called "Goodman Goes Playboy" in which the

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' lifestyle and sold their souls to Satan (aka ''Playboy'' founder

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

). Archie Comics sued Warren, and settled out of court for $1,000 and a published apology. The spat resurfaced in December when the story was reprinted in a book; another settlement was reached in 1963 promising never to reprint the story again. A total of 26 issues were printed before the magazine folded in 1965. Volume one (Aug. 1960–Sept. 1961) had 12 issues, and 14 issues comprised the second volume (Feb. 1962–Sept. 1965).

Notable contributors

* Charles Alverson * Orson Bean *

* Robert Crumb * Jack Davis *

* Milt Kamen * Harvey Kurtzman *

* John Severin * Gilbert Shelton *

* Heinrich Kley

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Help! (magazine) 1960 comics debuts 1965 comics endings Satirical magazines published in the United States Comics magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1960 Magazines disestablished in 1965 Magazines edited by Harvey Kurtzman Satirical comics Underground comix Photocomics Warren Publishing titles 1960s in comedy