Humorama Inc.
Humorama Inc.
Other Banners:
Timely Publications, Marvel Publications, Atlas Publications
Addresses:
655 Madison Ave New York 21, NY
Owners:
Martin Goodman
Publication Dates:
1939-Present
Humorama was a division of Martin Goodman's publishing firm. It was a line of digest-sized magazines featuring girlie cartoons by Bill Ward, Bill Wenzel, Dan DeCarlo and many others. In addition to the cartoons, the magazines also displayed black-and-white photos of pin-up models, including Bettie Page and Eve Meyer, strippers like Lili St. Cyr and Tempest Storm, actresses Joi Lansing, Tina Louise, Irish McCalla, Julie Newmar and many others.
Martin Goodman's brother, Abe Goodman, headed this division. The line was published from at least the mid-1950s to mid-1970s. These titles were profitable for the company because the contents were inexpensive and production costs were minimal in comparison to the more complex full-size magazines published by the company. Although there were pin-ups, there was no nudity, so the Humorama magazines could be sold the same places as Goodman's mainstream magazines and his Atlas and Marvel Comics.
Indexing Humorama magazines can be frustrating. One magazine indicia page may list the publisher as Timely, while the next issue may list the publisher as Humorama, and the next issue list it as Timely again. Volume numbers appear and disappear at random. Titles change from one to another for no apparent reason. It would appear that Goodman himself didn't bother to catalog any of this either.
I will attempt to clear up this mess as best I can. I'll include volumes and issue numbers as I find them, although these appear at this point to be little more than whims on the publisher's behalf than actual logistics.
Humorama Titles
- Breezy
- Cartoon Parade
- Comedy
- Eye
- Eyeful of Fun*
- Fun House
- Gaze
- Gee-Whiz
- Humorama
- Instant Laughs*
- Jest
- Joker
- Laugh Circus*
- Laugh It Off
- Laugh Digest
- Laugh Riot
- Popular Cartoons
- Popular Jokes**
- Romp
- Stare
- Snappy
- Zip
* Can anyone verify these titles?
** Not a Humorama title, although often listed as one. See Visual Varieties






