The little adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" from the issue of Harvey Kurtzman's "Humbug" magazine dated January 1958 is another interesting period piece.
The magazine "Humbug" was started by Kurtzman after he had left MAD magazine, where he had been the brains of the operation. "Humbug" to me has the feel of the old MAD issues from when it was still a comic book before switching to the more familiar magazine format. Of course, MAD went on for decades whereas "Humbug" only lasted for eleven issues. Various factors played into all this and one can read a lot about these things on the 'net.
In any event, we have a witty little condensation of "A Christmas Carol" here, with lots of little things happening on each page. The art by Arnold Roth is very detailed!
I do think it's fun how they keep the "staves" format of the original book and actually do cram a number of the story elements in there.
The most curious thing to me is that Scrooge's first name is spelled "Ebenizer." I somehow think this is something that's over my head. I do wonder, as I pride myself on being able to pick upon jokes from 50, 60 or 70 years ago!
One thing not to sleep on is the cover of the magazine, as drawn by the inimitable Jack Davis. His work is as awesome as it is distinctive.
So, an interesting little thing that helps show how "A Christmas Carol" had been adapted into just about every medium possible by the mid-50s!
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