History
Marvel Comics (then known as Atlas Comics) first published a Crazy comic book in 1953. It ran for seven issues, through mid-1954, and was focused on popular culture parodies and humor.[3] The second comic title, as Crazy!, ran for three issues in 1973, and reprinted comics parodies from Marvel's late-1960s Not Brand Echh.[4] Later that year, Marvel repurposed the title for a black-and-white comics magazine.[5] Marv Wolfman edited the first ten issues from 1973–1975 and the first Super Special, and created the magazine's first mascot, a short, bug-eyed man in a large black hat and draped in a black cape. Initially unnamed, the mascot was dubbed "The Nebbish" in issue #9 (Feb. 1975) and later "Irving Nebbish".[6] Wolfman recalled, "Stan Lee wanted it to be more Mad/Cracked, where I wanted it more Lampoon. We sort of split the difference."[6]
Steve Gerber, who served as Crazy's editor from issues #11-14, and wanted it to be distinctive from the archetypal Mad, said that the goal was to present work that implied the creators were themselves insane.[7] Gerber's own contributions were often prose stories with a handful of illustrations, such as the "Just Plain Folks" series of bizarre biographies. The last issue of his run as editor included a darkly comic short story he wrote in college, "...And the Birds Hummed Dirges!", about high-school kids who make a suicide pact.
Paul Lamont edited issue #15 (Jan. 1976) and Paul Laikin edited #16-60 and #62 (May 1980). Lamont was a pen name for Laikin.
By 1979, Crazy was struggling in sales.[6] In 1980, the Irving Nebbish mascot was replaced with the belligerent Obnoxio the Clown, who made his first appearance in issue #63 (June 1980),[6] the first regular issue edited by Larry Hama, who had also edited issue #61 (April 1980).
Crazy Magazine's last issue was #94 (April 1983).
In December 2019, Marvel published a one-shot Crazy featuring new material and two variant covers. Mark Paniccia was the editor. This issue was reprinted, along with other superhero-related features from Crazy #9, #20, #22, #28, #31, #39, #42, #57, #59-60, #62-63, #65-66, #68-72, #75-90 and #92-94, in a 248-page trade paperback the following year.
