Jerome DeFuccio (July 3, 1925 – August 10, 2001)"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JPZP-729 : accessed March 12, 2013), Jerome Defuccio, August 15, 2001. was an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

writer and editor known primarily for his work at '' Mad'', where he was an associate editor for 25 years. He was also closely involved in many of the ''Mad'' paperbacks, editing ''Clods' Letters to Mad'' and many other reprints and spin-offs. Some of his contributions to

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...

appeared under the pseudonym Jerry Dee.

Career

Guests and visitors to ''Mad'' usually wound up chatting in DeFuccio's office. As noted by

Mark Evanier Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and b ...

: At

during the early 1950s, DeFuccio was an assistant editor and researcher on

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

's war comics, ''

Frontline Combat ''Frontline Combat'' is an anthology war comic book written and edited by Harvey Kurtzman and published bi-monthly by EC Comics. The first issue was cover dated July/August, 1951. It ran for 15 issues over three years, and ended with the Januar ...

'' and ''

Two-Fisted Tales ''Two-Fisted Tales'' is an anthology war comic published bi-monthly by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title originated in 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor o ...

'', research that on one day involved taking a trip underwater in a submarine. He wrote scripts for EC and also contributed one-page text pieces to several EC titles. For ''Two-Fisted Tales'' #33 he wrote "Outpost" (illustrated by

John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, ...

and

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 ...

. For ''Frontline Combat'' he wrote "War Dance!" and "Belts n' Celts" (both illustrated by Severin) and "Wolf!" (illustrated by

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

). He later wrote scripts for the line of war comics published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, including ''Star Spangled War'' and ''Our Fighting Forces''. DeFuccio teamed with artist Mart Bailey to create a superhero newspaper comic strip, "The Owl" (not to be confused with the comic book character '' The Owl'' from 1940). DeFuccio's book introductions include Bud Blake's ''Tiger'' (Grosset & Dunlap, 1969). As an expert on comic book history, he contributed to such publications as ''Squa Tront'', '' Graphic Story Magazine'', ''The Comics Journal'', ''Wonderworld'' and ''The Comic Book Price Guide''. He also worked briefly for ''Mads rival, ''

Cracked Cracked may refer to: Television * ''Cracked'' (British TV series), a 2008 British comedy-drama television series that aired on STV * ''Cracked'' (Canadian TV series), a 2013 Canadian crime drama series that aired on CBC * "Cracked", a Season 8 ( ...

'', after leaving ''Mad'' in 1980. DeFuccio died of cancer on August 10, 2001.

Partial bibliography

* DC Comics (1970–1972) ** ''G.I. Combat'' #152 ** ''Our Fighting Forces'' #124 ** ''Star Spangled War'' #162 ** ''Tomahawk'' #134 ** ''Weird War Tales'' #2

Sources

''Comics Interview'' 120. Jerry DeFuccio interviewed by Bill Kieffer, 1993.

References

External links

Complete list of Jerry DeFuccio's credits for ''Mad''
1925 births 2001 deaths American comics writers American writers of Italian descent Mad (magazine) people EC Comics {{US-comics-creator-stub