Al Feldstein (born October 24, 1925) is an American painter of Western wildlife and an influential author-editor who wrote, drew and edited for EC Comics and MAD Magazine. Image File history File links Alfeldstein. ... October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining. ... 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Entertaining Comics was headed by William Gaines but is better known by its publishing name of EC Comics. ... Harvey Kurtzmans cover for the first issue of the comic book Mad Mad is an American humor magazine founded by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman in 1952. ...

Early years

Born in Brooklyn, Al Feldstein was eight years old when he won a third place medal in the annual John Wanamaker art competition. After winning an award in the 1939 New York World's Fair poster contest, he decided on a career in the art field and studied at the High School of Music and Art in upper Manhattan. During his junior year, he landed a job with a comic publisher's art service, making three dollars a week by running errands, inking balloon lines, ruling panel borders and erasing pages. When he began inking backgrounds, his salary jumped to five dollars a week. A map highlighting Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. ... The 1939 New York Worlds Fair, located where Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is now (and where the 1964 New York Worlds Fair was held), was one of the largest worlds fairs of all time. ... The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is located near the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue between 65th Street and 64th Street. ...

With his graduation, he received a scholarship to the Art Students League. He began a rigorous schedule of studying at Brooklyn College during the day, followed by night classes at the Art Students League. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the Air Force in July, 1943, as an aviation cadet and began his basic training in Blytheville, Arkansas. His cadet class was held in reserve, and he was assigned to Special Services, creating signs and service club murals, decorating planes and flight jackets, drawing comic strips for field newspapers and painting squadron insignias for orderly rooms. The Art Students League of New York is an art school founded in 1875. ... Brooklyn College of The City University of New York Brooklyn College of The City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York. ... Blytheville is a city located in Mississippi County, Arkansas. ... State nickname: The Natural State Other U.S. States Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Governor Mike Huckabee (R) Official languages English Area 137,732 km² (29th)  - Land 134,856 km²  - Water 2,876 km² (2. ...

EC Comics

After his discharge, he freelanced art for comic books, arriving in 1948 at Bill Gaines' Entertaining Comics, where he began as an artist but soon combined art with writing. As his workload increased, he began writing a story a day, and Feldstein's artwork was mainly displayed only on covers. William Maxwell Gaines (March 1, 1922–June 3, 1992), or Bill Gaines as he was called, was the founder of MAD Magazine but he was also noted for his efforts to create comic books of sufficient artistic quality and interest to appeal to adults. ...

As EC's editor, Feldstein created a literate line, balancing his genre tales with potent graphic stories probing the underbelly of American life. In creating stories around such topics as racial prejudice, rape, domestic violence, police brutality, drug addiction and child abuse, he succeeded in addressing problems and issues which the 1950s radio, motion picture and television industries were too timid to dramatize.

While developing a stable of contributing writers that included Otto Binder, Jack Oleck, Carl Wessler and Daniel Keyes, he published the first work of Harlan Ellison. EC employed the comics industry's finest artists and published promotional copy to make readers aware of their staff. Feldstein encouraged the EC illustrators to maintain their personal art styles, and this emphasis on individuality gave the EC line a unique appearance. Distinctive front cover designs framing those recognizable art styles made Feldstein's titles easy to spot on crowded newsstands. Otto Binder (August 26, 1911 - October 14, 1974) was an American science fiction author and comic book writer. ... Daniel Keyes (born August 9, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American author, primarily of science fiction. ... Harlan Ellison, c. ... A newsstand, known as a newsagents in countries using British English, is a small business that sells newspapers, magazines, snacks and often items of local interest such as postcards and clothing emblazoned with sports team mascots. ...

Those well-remembered comic magazines, known as EC's New Trend group, included Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Piracy, Panic, Crime SuspenStories and Shock SuspenStories. Weird Science was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. ... Weird Fantasy was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. ... Tales from the Crypt was part of Bill Gaines EC Comics line during the early 1950s. ... The Haunt of Fear was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. ... The Vault of Horror was part of Bill Gaines EC Comics line during the early 1950s. ... Piracy was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. ... Crime SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. ... Shock SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. ...

After the New Trend titles folded in 1955, Feldstein edited EC's short-lived New Direction and Picto-Fiction titles.

Mad magazine

Feldstein then moved to Mad magazine, replacing Harvey Kurtzman in 1956, the same year that Time described it as a "short-lived satirical pulp." Marshalling a full phalanx of talented humor writers, he immediately began introducing new cartoonists. Feldstein's first issue as editor (#29) was also the first issue to display the twisted work of cartoonist Don Martin, and a few months later, he hired Mort Drucker, who quickly became their cinema caricaturist. By 1961, with the introduction of Antonio Prohias and Dave Berg, he had fully established the format that kept the magazine a commercial success for decades. During that period, he boosted Mad from its 1956 quarterly circulation of 375,000 to an eight-times-a-year circulation peak of 2,830,000 in 1976. Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924 - February 21, 1993), U.S. cartoonist and magazine editor. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pulp magazines (often referred to as the pulps) were inexpensive fiction magazines widely published from the 1920s through the 1950s. ... Don Martin (May 18, 1931–January 6, 2000) was a popular American satirical comic artist and cartoon artist who contributed to MAD magazine from 1955 to 1987. ... Mort Drucker is a cartoonist and caricaturist from Brooklyn, New York. ... Antonio Prohias (January 17, 1921 - February 24, 1998) was a cartoonist most famous for creating the Spy vs. ... Dave Berg (Brooklyn, June 12, 1920 – May 17, 2002) was a cartoonist, most noted for his work in MAD Magazine. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Painting

Retiring from Mad in 1984, he returned to his first love, painting. He left Connecticut and relocated in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he spent three years painting the Teton Range and its wildlife. Two of his paintings from that period placed in the Top 100 of Arts for the Parks, a competition created in 1986 by the National Park Academy of the Arts. State nickname: The Constitution State Other U.S. States Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Governor M. Jodi Rell (R) Official languages English Area 14,371 km² (48th)  - Land 12,559 km²  - Water 1,809 km² (12. ... Jackson is a town located in the Jackson Hole valley of Teton County, Wyoming. ... The Teton Range The Teton Range is a small but dramatic mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. ...

Feldstein moved in 1992 to Paradise Valley, Montana near Livingston, finding new approaches to depict the Western way of life in his superbly rendered acrylic paintings. In 1999, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree by Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, and that same year, he once again ranked in the Top 100 of the Arts for the Parks' Competition. In 2000, he was invited to give the Commencement Address to the new century's first graduating class at Rocky Mountain College. At the 2003 San Diego Comicon, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. Livingston is a city located in Park County, Montana. ... Acrylic paint is fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. ... Rocky Mountain College, Montanas oldest and first institution of higher learning, founded in 1878, is a private comprehensive college offering over 40 liberal arts and professionally oriented majors. ... Billings is a city located in Yellowstone County, Montana. ...

Today, he is represented by numerous Northwest galleries, and he continues to create his Western, wildlife and landscape paintings at his 270-acre ranch north of Livingston and south of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. ...

External links

• Al Feldstein Fine Art and Landscapes
• 1999 Arts for the Parks Top 100