Goodman Beaver is a comics character created by American cartoonist Harvey Kurtz man.

Goodman is a naive and optimistic Candide-like character, oblivious to the corruption and degeneration around him. The stories were vehicles for biting soc ial satire and pop culture parody. Except for the character's first appearance, which Kurtzman did alone, the stories were written by Kurtzman and drawn by Will Elder. Goodman first appeared in a story in Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book in 1959, but the best-remembered strips were the five stories produced by the Kurtzman Elder te am in 1961 62 for the Kurtzman-edited magazine Help! They tended to be in the paro dic style Kurtzman had developed when he wrote and edited Mad in the 1950s, but with more pointed, adult-oriented satire and much more refined and detailed artw ork on Elder's part, filled with countless visual gags. The best-known of the Goodman Beaver stories was "Goodman Goes Playboy" (1962). A satire on the hedonistic lifestyle of Hugh Hefner using parodies of Archie com ics characters, the story drew the ire of Archie's publisher, which threatened a lawsuit. The issue was settled out of court, and the copyright for the story pa ssed to Archie Comics. Hefner, the actual target of the strip, found it amusing, which led to Kurtzman and Elder developing a female version of Goodman Beaver f or Playboy magazine called Little Annie Fanny (1962 88). Contents [hide] 1 Overview 2 Stories 2.1 "The Organization Man in the Gray Flannel Executive Suit" 2.2 "Goodman Meets T*rz*n" 2.3 "Goodman Goes Playboy" 2.4 "Goodman, Underwater" 2.5 "Goodman Meets S*perm*n" 2.6 "Goodman Gets a Gun" 3 Publication history 3.1 List of original appearances 4 Reception and legacy 5 Notes 6 References 6.1 Works cited 7 External links Overview[edit] Goodman Beaver is a nave and optimistic[1] character, oblivious to the degenerati on around him.[2] According to Kurtzman, the character was partially inspired by Voltaire's Candide and Harold Gray's comic strip character Little Orphan Annie, who, like Goodman, was drawn with blank circles for eyes.[3] Art critic Greil M arcus compares Goodman to Young Goodman Brown in Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of t he same name both are pure-souled characters who become disillusioned by the depra vity they confront in the world.[4] Kurtzman wrote five Goodman Beaver stories for his long-time collaborator Will E lder.[5] Most of the stories were in the parodic style Kurtzman had developed as the creator, editor, and writer of Mad, but dealt with more significant issues concerning modernity.[6] Published in the Kurtzman-edited Help! in the early 196 0s,[5] they were drawn in Elder's "chickenfat" style, in which he crammed every panel with humorous detail and throwaway gags.[7] Elder cited the Flemish Pieter Bruegel the Elder and the Spanish Diego Velzquez as influences on this style.[8] A heavily detailed black-and-white printed drawing of a room filled with demon-l ike beings. A magician stands to the right, hand aloft and carrying a long rod. Artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder had an influence on Will Elder's detail ed drawings. ("The Fall of the Magician", Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565)

Stories[edit] "The Organization Man in the Gray Flannel Executive Suit"[edit] Main article: Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book: "The Organization Man in the Gray F lannel Executive Suit" As an editor hired by Schlock Publications Inc., Goodman loses his youthful idea lism when awash in the sea of avarice and selfishness he encounters in the publi shing world. In this story Kurtzman used his own personal experiences to satiriz e the corrupting influence of capitalism and power.[9] Goodman finds himself gro ping the secretaries, just as the other cynical executives at Schlock do, and en ds up stealing from the company.[10] Goodman was a semi-autobiographical character, reflecting Kurtzman's disillusion ing experiences in the publishing industry.[11] Kurtzman's artwork is in an exag gerated cartoon style with round, fluid, elongated characters[12] rendered with loose, fluid, and sketchy brushwork and gray wash.[13] Dialogue is in an express ive, handwriting-like style.[12] Kurtzman blends the verbal and visual aspects o f the work for example, when an enraged Goodman Beaver confronts his diminutive bo ss Mr. Schlock, Goodman is graphically overwhelmed by Schlock's word balloons, w hich demonstrates Goodman's helpless subservience and Schlock's effortless psych ological dominance over his employees.[14] "Goodman Meets T*rz*n"[edit] "Goodman Meets T*rz*n" first appeared in the September 1961 issue of Help!, and was Elder's first take on Goodman Beaver.[15] Set against the backdrop of the fa ll of European colonialism in the face of the rise of African nationalism, such as in the Kenyan Mau-Mau Uprising, and the spread of the Soviet sphere of influe nce,[15] the story throws a modern 1960s spin on the romance of jungle adventure as exemplified by the Tarzan tales.[6] Kurtzman sends up T*rz*n's attitude of s uperiority, as when T*rz*n confronts an African tribe, or when J*ne gives T*rz*n basic English lessons.[15] Elder's first efforts had Goodman depicted with more monkey-like features thick, b lack eyebrows, a large mouth, and small jaw and chin. Kurtzman and Elder desired to have a more "lovable" Goodman, so Elder reworked Goodman's appearance in lat er stories, redrawing Goodman's features[a] to conform with this new look for la ter reprintings of the "Goodman Meets T*rz*n" story.[15] "Goodman Goes Playboy"[edit] Help!'s most famous story[16] was "Goodman Goes Playboy", first published in the February 1962[b] issue of Help![18] The story satirized Hugh Hefner and his lif estyle while parodying Archie comics in a much more outlandish way than Kurtzman 's parody "Starchie" in Mad a decade earlier.[17] Kurtzman called this his favor ite Goodman Beaver story, and said that Hefner would point people to it when he wanted to explain to people what Kurtzman's work was about.[19] Heavily detailed comic strip panel of an orgy in progress. In "Goodman Goes Playboy" (1962), Kurtzman and Elder satirize Hugh Hefner's swin ging lifestyle, using parodies of Archie Comics characters. Goodman has returned to his hometown,[4] and the Archie characters, home from co llege, are drinking, partying, skirt-chasing hedonists.[20] Jughead is a beatnik , and the others are leading glamorous lifestyles. Archie Andrews parody Archer explains to a behind-the-times Goodman, "You've been away too long. Nowadays, th e gang is interested mainly in hip-ness awareness", rather than keeping up with ho w the football team is doing. Archer shows Goodman to his place, which must be e ntered through a staircase built into an enormous statue of a female abdomen. Ar cher leads Goodman to a Roman-style orgy and has him change into a toga. The par ty is Archer's last, as he reveals he has signed a pact with the Devil, and the debt was due that night.[4]

"Goodman Goes Playboy" appeared in altered form in the book collection Executive 's Comic Book in 1962: in the orgy scene the exposed nipples were covered with w hite ink [21] and the parody Archie characters were altered to obscure the resem blance to characters they were based on in a failed attempt to escape legal acti on from Archie's publishers.[22] "Goodman, Underwater"[edit] While trying to enjoy a book as he floats in a swim ring off a crowded beach, Go odman is interrupted by undersea adventurer Hammer Nelson, who invites Goodman t o help him fight underwater crime. Don Quixote-like, the overeager Nelson sees c rime where there is none, interrupting swimmers and boaters at play. The pair se t out to find a Russian submarine and find one, but Nelson mistakes it for a monst er to be subdued with his speargun. Goodman realizes Nelson's insanity, abandons the adventurer, and returns to his book. Framed within the story of Don Quixote,[5] "Goodman, Underwater" satirizes Cold War tensions[23] and sets out to deflate the deluded ideals of do-gooders[5] whi le parodying the 1960s television series Sea Hunt,[5] which starred Lloyd Bridge s as Mike Nelson. The illustrations that bookend the story are from 19th-century French artist Gustave Dor's Don Quixote illustrations.[24] The story first appea red in Help! #14[25] (May 1962).[23] A line drawing of two mounted men looking down over a cliff at a rising cloud of smoke. The man on the left is garbed as a knight. Don Quixote illustrations by Gustave Dor bookended "Goodman, Underwater". "Goodman Meets S*perm*n"[edit] In "Goodman Meets S*perm*n", Goodman stumbles across the superhero on a fishing trip. S*perm*n has gone into hiding from society, sporting a beard and moccasins .[26] He no longer has the desire to help a society he has lost faith in,[5] and which criticizes him for his good deeds. Goodman takes him back to the city to prove that society is still full of good people. While in the city, Goodman enco unters an old woman being attacked by a knife-wielding maniac. Goodman flees in terror, but is stopped by S*perm*n who reveals himself as the old woman in disgu ise he had been testing Goodman's selflessness. S*perm*n is horrified and disappoi nted by the degeneration and corruption he sees in the city, and abandons societ y again.[26] First published in Help! #15[25] (August 1962),[23] Elder described "Goodman Mee ts S*perm*n" and its detailed splash page as "Marx Brothers on paper. You never knew what to expect",[27] referring to the busy wealth of gags it was filled wit h.[27] With artwork by Wally Wood, Kurtzman first parodied Superman in "Superdup erman" in the fourth issue of Mad in 1953.[28] "Goodman Gets a Gun"[edit] A black-and-white photograph of a man wearing a leather jacket and a cap. He ha s a stern look on his face and a squint in his eye. Goodman imitates Marlon Brando (pictured) in "Goodman Gets a Gun". Goodman attends a pool party in his hometown Riverdale, fresh from joining the p olice force. He spots the popular Liz Taylbone, with whom he had been smitten si nce high school, but he is too passive and timid to draw her attention. After wa tching a Marlon Brando movie on TV in the lounge he is infused with courage and returns to the party imitating Brando's attitude and mannerisms. He draws the at tention of Liz Taylbone and the crowd, but not for his Brando impression as he t hinks rather, they are impressed to learn that, as an off-duty police officer, Goo dman is carrying a pistol. The group coaxes him into going with them to a night club known for its rough clientele. When the rough crowd arrives, Goodman's grou p expects the gun to serve as their protection until Goodman lets them know his ne wfound self-confidence drove him to quit the police force two hours earlier. The

group abandons Goodman to a thrashing by the thugs.[29] "Goodman Gets a Gun" appeared first in Help! #16[30] (November 1962).[31] It was the only Elder-drawn story not to appear in the Executive's Comic Book collecti on of 1962.[27] Publication history[edit] Goodman Beaver made his first appearance in Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book[17] in 1959,[32] in "The Organization Man in the Gray Flannel Executive Suit".[11] Jun gle Book was the first American book of original comics,[33] a mass-market paper back[34] that was the first in a planned series.[35] The book sold poorly, but h as been a favorite among Kurtzman fans.[36] The first Elder-drawn Goodman story appeared in Help! #12 in 1961 and was follow ed in 1962 with four more stories in Help! #13 16.[37] A Goodman Beaver collection called Executive's Comic Book appeared in 1962[38] from Macfadden Books.[27] In this paperback collection[30] of four stories "Goodman Meets T*rz*n", "Goodman Go es Playboy", "Goodman, Underwater", and "Goodman Meets S*perm*n"[27] the strips we re reformatted to one panel per page. Elder extended the artwork of each panel t o fit the page dimensions.[30] Kurtzman approached Hugh Hefner in 1960 with the idea of a comic strip feature f or Playboy that would star Goodman Beaver.[21] Until then, Playboy had printed m any cartoons, but not a comic strip. After exchanging ideas with Hefner the proj ect was approved, but Goodman Beaver was required to be transformed into a volup tuous female. Kurtzman brought in Will Elder as his primary collaborator on Litt le Annie Fanny.[39] In 1984 Kitchen Sink Press published a collection called Goodman Beaver, which r eprinted four Kurtzman/Elder stories from Help![32] all the Elder-drawn stories ex cept for "Goodman Goes Playboy", which appeared only in short excerpts permitted by fair use exemptions under US copyright law.[40] The book reprinted the elong ated versions of those strips that had appeared in Executive's Comic Book. Origi nal artwork for 38 of the 139 reproduced panels were lost; according to Kurtzman , several pages were sent to French magazine Charlie Hebdo for translation and n ever returned. Kitchen Sink used proofs, photostats, or original magazine appear ances for sources from which to reproduce the missing panels.[8] List of original appearances[edit] Original Goodman Beaver appearances Story Publication Date "The Organization Man in the Gray Flannel Executive Suit"[11] Harvey Kurtzman' s Jungle Book[17] 1959[32] "Goodman Meets T*rz*n"[30] Help! #12[30] September 1961[41] "Goodman Goes Playboy"[42] Help! #13[42] February 1962[43] "Goodman, Underwater"[25] Help! #14[25] May 1962[23] "Goodman Meets S*perm*n"[25] Help! #15[25] August 1962[23] "Goodman Gets a Gun" [30] Help! #16[30] November 1962[31] Reception and legacy[edit] Kurtzman had avoided drawing legal fire from the litigious DC Comics and Edgar R ice Burroughs, Inc. when he parodied their copyrighted properties, but the satur nalian depictions of the Archie characters in "Goodman Goes Playboy" provoked le gal action from Archie publisher John L. Goldwater,[40] who had earlier played a role in founding the comics industry's self-censorship body, the Comics Magazin e Association of America.[22] A comic strip panel depicting parodies of Archie Comics characters reading Playb oy magazine. The parodic depictions of Archie Comics characters in "Goodman Goes Playboy" pro

mpted a lawsuit from the characters' publisher. Help! publisher Jim Warren received a letter on 6 December 1961 accusing the mag azine of copyright infringement and demanding removal of the offending issue fro m newsstands.[22] Warren's lawyer believed they could succeed if they fought the suit, but the legal costs would make it a "Pyrrhic victory", and thus recommend ed settling out of court.[17] Warren could not have the magazine recalled,[22] b ut he agreed to pay Archie Comics $1000 and ran a note of apology in a subsequen t issue of Help![17] the August 1962 issue, in which appeared another character fr anchise parody, "Goodman Meets S*perm*n".[28] Warren's action disappointed Kurtz man, who felt that giving in to such censorship set a "terrible precedent",[17] and amounted to a kind of prostitution.[c] When the story was reprinted in the book collection Executive Comic Book in 1962 , Elder modified the artwork to obscure the appearance of the Archie characters. Archie Comics found the characters' appearances still too close to their copyri ghted properties and threatened another lawsuit. Kurtzman and Elder settled out of court by handing over the copyright to the story. Archie Comics held on to th e copyright and refused to allow the story to be republished.[22] The actual target of "Goodman Goes Playboy" had been Hefner, who loved it. Kurtz man began working for Hefner again soon afterwards.[17] The strip Kurtzman produ ced, Little Annie Fanny, is often thought of as a compromise virtuosic in its visu als, but lacking in content in comparison to the Goodman Beaver stories. R. Fior e and other commentators have considered this ironic in light of the Faustian th eme of "Goodman Goes Playboy".[44] In June 1983 Denis Kitchen requested the right to reprint the story as part of a planned Goodman Beaver collection. Archie Enterprises chairman Michael J. Silbe rkleit responded that publishing a story that included the likenesses of the Arc hie characters would be "a serious breach of copyright and trademark law". When the company learned that Kitchen planned to publish the story with the pages red uced in size and the characters' faces blacked out, Archie Enterprises threatene d another lawsuit, and Kitchen dropped the story from the collection, which appe ared in 1984. Kitchen went as far as to have the book's cover redone, as the pla nned one had incorporated a "Goodman Goes Playboy" panel in the background.[45] Photo of a middle-age man in a T-shirt Gary Groth (pictured) published "Goodman Goes Playboy" when he discovered Archie Comics had let the copyright expire. Publisher and critic Gary Groth wrote that Elder's artwork in the Goodman Beaver stories "clinched his reputation as the cartoon Brueghel [sic] with his intrica te portraits of a world cheerfully going mad".[46] Elder considered the stories to be the funniest of his collaborations with Kurtzman,[32] though he said that towards the end of the run he was getting tired of the painstaking work he put i nto the drawings.[47] The stories placed sixty-fourth on The Comics Journal's "T op 100 English-Language Comics of the Century" in 1999,[6] along with four other works with which Kurtzman was involved.[48] Late-1990s talk of a Goodman Beaver feature film or television series circulated, but the Kurtzman estate was unint erested.[49] After Comics Journal co-owner Gary Groth discovered that Archie Comics had let t he copyright on "Goodman Goes Playboy" expire, he had the story reprinted in The Comics Journal #262 (September 2004).[50] It was also made available as a PDF f ile on the magazine's website.[51] The story has yet to appear in any reprint co llection since the lapse of copyright.[52]