Spoof (1970) 4

A short-lived parody series from the Marvel bullpen, Spoof asked the question, “What if…Famous People were Santa Claus?” for Christmas 1972.

Spoof (1970) 4

Steve Gerber penned the seasonal story showcasing, then, Vice President Spiro Agnew as Santa before assigning the role to John Lennon. The hawk and dove approach to Christmas was peppered with caricatures of popular figures of the time like John Wayne and Charlie Brown.

Wrapped around the Christmas take was pop culture send ups of Blackula entitled Blechhula! written by Stu Schwartzberg and penciled by Marie Severin.

The book closed with Maykus Wellby, M.D., a take on Marcus Welby.

The title would last one more issue before cancellation.

Prior attempts at humor magazines included Marvel’s first stab in 1953 with Crazy. The title ran for seven issues before folding. It was resurrected in 1973 with reprinted material from the 1960’s Not Brand Echh! book. The comic book version lasted three issues before transforming into a black and white magazine. That version lasted from October 1973 to April 1983.

Not Brand Ecch! was a humor comic book mainly lampooning the super hero industry. It would run from August of 1967 to issue 13 in May 1969. Issue 14 would be published as part of Marvel’s Legacy numbering in 2017.

Marvel made another attempt at a humor title in 1974 with Arrgh! The book lasted five issues focusing on horror.