Sick (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Sick was a satirical
-humor magazine
published from 1960 to 1980, lasting 134 issues. It was created by comic-book writer
-artist
Joe Simon
, who also edited the title until the late 1960s. Sick was published by Crestwood Publications
until issue #62 (1968), when it was taken over by Hewfred Publications. Charlton Comics
took over publishing the magazine in 1976 with issue #109.
Sick 's original mascot was a blank-faced little physician
. He was later replaced by a mascot named Huckleberry Fink, whose design was similar to that of Mad
's Alfred E. Neuman
, and whose motto, instead of Neuman's "What, me worry?", was "Why Try Harder?"
Its contributors included Mad regulars Angelo Torres
and Jack Davis
, as well as Howard Cruse
, Arnold Drake
, Ernie Schroeder
, and B.K. Taylor. Its art director from 1961 until his death in 1967 was the noted comic-book artist Bob Powell
.
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
-humor magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
published from 1960 to 1980, lasting 134 issues. It was created by comic-book writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
-artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
Joe Simon
Joe Simon
Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon is an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.With his...
, who also edited the title until the late 1960s. Sick was published by Crestwood Publications
Crestwood Publications
Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title Prize Comics contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book feature, Dick Briefer's "Frankenstein"...
until issue #62 (1968), when it was taken over by Hewfred Publications. Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
took over publishing the magazine in 1976 with issue #109.
Sick 's original mascot was a blank-faced little physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. He was later replaced by a mascot named Huckleberry Fink, whose design was similar to that of Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
's Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot and cover boy of Mad magazine. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed and named by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman...
, and whose motto, instead of Neuman's "What, me worry?", was "Why Try Harder?"
Its contributors included Mad regulars Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many comic books, as well as a long-running regular slot in Mad magazine, typically film or television parodies.-Biography:...
and Jack Davis
Jack Davis (cartoonist)
Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...
, as well as Howard Cruse
Howard Cruse
Howard Cruse is an American alternative cartoonist known for the exploration of gay themes in his comics.Cruse was raised in Springville, Alabama, the son of a preacher and a homemaker. His earliest published cartoons were in The Baptist Student when he was in high school. His work later appeared...
, Arnold Drake
Arnold Drake
Arnold Drake was an American comic book writer and screenwriter best known for co-creating the DC Comics characters Deadman and the Doom Patrol, and the Marvel Comics characters the Guardians of the Galaxy, among others....
, Ernie Schroeder
Ernie Schroeder
Ernest C. "Ernie" Schroeder was an American comic book artist and a commercial illustrator and sculptor, best known for drawing and co-writing Hillman Periodicals' influential muck-monster the Heap from 1949 to 1953....
, and B.K. Taylor. Its art director from 1961 until his death in 1967 was the noted comic-book artist Bob Powell
Bob Powell (comics)
Bob Powell né Stanislav Robert Pawlowski was an American comic book artist known for his work during the 1930-40s Golden Age of comic books, including on the features "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Mr. Mystic". He received a belated credit in 1999 for co-writing the debut of the popular...
.