''Plop!'', "The New Magazine of Weird Humor!", is a
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
anthology series
An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...
published by
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
in the mid-1970s. It falls into the
horror /
humor
Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...
genre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
. It lasted 24 issues and the series ran from Sept./Oct.
1973
Events January
* January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
to Nov./Dec.
1976
Events January
* January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
.
Background and creation
According to
Steve Skeates, ''Plop!'' was based around a horror / humor story he wrote called "The Poster Plague", which was published in ''The
House of Mystery''.
The title initially was intended to be called ''Zany''. A number of the one-panel cartoons published in the comic included the visible prefix ZA, in reference to the originally intended title.
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech ( , ; born 6 September 1937 in Sant Mateu, Castellón, Spain) is a Spanish-Mexican-American cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine and creating the comic book ''Groo t ...
credits publisher
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are ...
with coming up with the final title: "
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998) was an Italian Americans, Italian-American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' and ...
and I were sitting in a restaurant talking with Carmine Infantino. They wanted a magazine that was different, something about black humor. Carmine came up with the name. We were talking about it and he said, 'What will we call it?' And I said, 'We can call it anything, because if the magazine is good, then it will stay'. And he said, 'No, we can't call it, for instance...PLOP!' And I said, 'Yes, we can'. And so I started making sketches of things going PLOP! and they laughed and decided the name was good".
Contents
Each issue was centered on a
frame story
A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...
starring three ghoulish characters with Biblical names:
Cain
Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. How ...
,
Abel
Abel ( ''Hébel'', in pausa ''Hā́ḇel''; ''Hábel''; , ''Hābēl'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within the Abrahamic religions. Born as the second son of Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God in Judaism, God, he ...
(previously introduced in ''The
House of Mystery'' and ''The
House of Secrets'', respectively) and
Eve
Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
. An issue would typically contain a story told by each of the characters, each bidding to outdo the others in fiendishness.
Stories for ''Plop!'' were generally created in one of three ways. The most common was that
Steve Skeates would write the stories himself, using the
full script
A script is a document describing the narrative and dialogue of a comic book in detail. It is the comic book equivalent of a television program teleplay or a film screenplay.
In comics, a script may be preceded by a plot outline, and is almost al ...
method. Due to a brief feud with editor
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998) was an Italian Americans, Italian-American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' and ...
, for a time Skeates' stories were written under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
Chester P. Hazel. The second way was using plot ideas submitted by readers of the anthology. Orlando would select which plot ideas would be used and Skeates would then write the full story. The third way was that Aragonés would write the plot, and someone else would write the script once the story was fully drawn.
An illustrative tale drawn by
Berni Wrightson involved a gourmet diner whose love for
frog legs
Frog legs () are the muscular hindlimbs of frogs that are consumed as food by humans in some cuisines. Frog legs are rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, and potassium. They are often said to taste like chicken because of the mild fl ...
leads to a predictable amphibian revenge: he is left without lower limbs and is doomed to negotiate the world on a trolley.
Basil Wolverton and
Wallace Wood provided covers for the first 19 issues, each depicting a freakish character of some kind. The cover borders hosting a plethora of creatures, however, were drawn by
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech ( , ; born 6 September 1937 in Sant Mateu, Castellón, Spain) is a Spanish-Mexican-American cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine and creating the comic book ''Groo t ...
. All three artists worked on ''
MAD'', and the logo of ''Plop!'' is reminiscent of the early logo of that magazine. Wolverton's covers were not drawn for ''Plop!''; they were inventory pieces which he sent to
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
as a general submission. When all of the drawings he submitted were found suitable for use in ''Plop!'', Wolverton briefly came out of retirement so that he could continue drawing covers for the magazine. After he had a stroke, the magazine turned to Wood as the new cover artist.
Aragonés drew most of the frame stories. Later MAD contributor Dave Manak also did art.
The magazine was first published without ads but, when sales proved insufficient, advertisements were brought in for later issues. The magazine sold so poorly that, even with the added advertising revenue, DC Comics lost money on each issue, leading to its cancellation.
Awards
The series received a number of awards, including the
Shazam Award for Best Humor Story in 1973 for "The Gourmet" in issue #1,
and another nomination for the same award for "The Escape" in the same issue.
Steve Skeates also won the Shazam Award for Best Writer (Humor Division) in 1973 for his work on the series.
The comic was nominated for the
Eagle Award for Favourite Comic (Humour) in 1977.
[ at the official Eagle Awards website, archived at the ]Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...
. (Retrieved 9 September 2018.)
Collected editions
* ''The Steve Ditko Omnibus Volume 1'' includes ''Plop!'' #16: "Love is a Dandy!" by
Steve Skeates and
Steve Ditko
Stephen John Ditko. Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular ac ...
, 480 pages, September 2011,
Notes
References
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{{DC Comics Mystery Titles
Comics magazines published in the United States
Satirical magazines published in the United States
Satirical comics
1973 comics debuts
1976 comics endings
Comics by David Michelinie
Comics by George Kashdan
Magazines established in 1973
Magazines disestablished in 1976
Defunct American comics
Bimonthly magazines published in the United States