WILL ELDER 2011 fine art print / special edition of 10 / $175.00

Drew Friedman rendered this portrait of legendary cartoonist Will Elder (1921-2008), one of the granddaddies of subversive comics and one of Friedman's artistic heroes. Elder, along with Wally Wood, was a manic force on the pages of MAD when it launched as a comic book under Harvey Kurtzman in the early 1950s. (See Drew's portraits of Wood, Kurtzman, and Al Jaffee, also available as limited edition fine art prints.)

Elder, who had a unique gift for visual mimicry, often concocted savage parodies of tame mainstream strips (e.g., Mickey Mouse, Archie, Gasoline Alley). His panels were dotted with background gags and peripheral gremlins making absurd secondary dialogue. In 1957 Elder and Kurtzman left MAD to partner on several short-lived humor magazines, including Trump, Humbug, and Help! In 1962, he launched (with Kurtzman) the bawdy Little Annie Fanny series, which ran in Playboy until 1988.

A collection of vintage work, Will Elder: The Mad Playboy of Art, was published by Fantagraphics in 2003, the same year Elder was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. Drew Friedman's affectionate portrait will be published in the upcoming Blab World II (Last Gasp Books), edited by Monte Beauchamp. Chicken Fat, a documentary about Elder's life, is currently in development.

DrewFriedman.net has produced a very limited edition of ten (10) artist-signed prints offered solely thru our mailing list. Any unsold prints after the exclusive launch will be offered to the public at our discretion. These prints are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the run sells out, the work will not be offered in any other fine art print format.

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SHIPPING COSTS
  • U.S. DOMESTIC via USPS Priority: $35
  • HAWAII & ALASKA via USPS Priority mail: $40
  • CANADA via USPS Priority Mail International: $60
  • INTERNATIONAL via USPS Priority Mail International: $75
Only ten (10) prints of WILL ELDER were produced for this edition. Each print is signed in the lower right by the artist, hand-titled in the center, and numbered in the lower left (all beneath the image). Unframed prints are being offered to our mailing list subscribers for $175 each (plus shipping and handling). Any unsold prints after the exclusive launch will be offered to the public at our discretion, and most likely at a higher price.

The image area is 15" high x 11-1/2" wide centered on an untrimmed 19" x 13" sheet. Paper, ink, and production specifications, as well as shipping details, are available on our PRINT SPECS page.