Plop! was sub titled "The Magazine of Weird Humor!" and for good reason it truly was a bizarre anthology comic featuring a heady mix of humour and horror strips. However, the reason that many comic fans of the time may have purchased the first issue was for the story “The Gourmet” written by Steve Skeates with art by the legendary master of the horror genre Berni Wrightson. The strip presented below, tells the tale of Vernon Glute a man who is willing to pay any price for a plate of frog’s legs!
Berni Wrightson would contribute only one other strip to Plop! in issue 5 a six page humour/horror classic tale entitled "Moulded in Evil" written by George Kashidan.
Plop! ran for 24 issues from September 1973 to December 1976 with the first 10 issues being advert free. The covers of most issues featured weird characters (like issue 1 above ) by Basil Wolverton and Wally Wood. Many of the earlier issues featured one page gags and stories illustrated by some of the biggest names in comics including Alex Toth, Wally Wood, Alfredo Alcala and Bill Druat, but the true star of PLOP! was the equally legendary Sergio Aragones.
Plop! was heavily advertised in various DC house ads at the time which featured a series of small adverts by Sergio Aragones each with a silly "plop" theme. These ads were not only humerous but they whetted my appetite to find out just what "Plop!" was. I sadly missed the first issue (only purchasing it around 10 years later) but I did manage to borrow a friends copy and found the mix of humour and horror fun. My first issue was Plop! #2 which is another story for another time.
Above: The first issue featured a collection of Sergio Aragones' fun one panel house ads.
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I've long lusted after a reprint of the Plop! series. Like The Shadow, I picked up the first issue, enjoyed it, but for whatever reason I never got another until I was an adult and treading in back issue boxes. "The Gourmet" is a delightfully disgusting story in that glorious E.C. tradition. Wasn't Joe Orlando the editor?
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to find most of the first 10 issue in the spinner racks and I purchased every the issues I saw, sometimes before a superhero title. After the ads were added to Plop! it never felt the same despite some nice art and daft (in a good way) stories. But the first 10 issues were the stars . A good barometer of a comic for me is when you look at the cover the memories it brings back Plop? always reminds me of my school years as a 13 year old and when my family moved house. Yes , Mr Orlando was indeed the editor Rip.
ReplyDeleteThe Gourmet story was reprinted in The Masterworks Series Of Great Comic Book Artists #3 around 1983 or thereabouts. Berni Wrightson would eventually change the spelling of his first name to Bernie, but whatever the spelling, he was a great artist indeed. I bought Plop! #1 when it first came out, but I don't recall ever seeing any subsequent issues at the time. I never kept my original, but managed to obtain a replacement, along with #s 2 & 3, a goodly number of years ago now.
ReplyDeleteI think they also printed a facsimile of Plop! 1 a few years ago as well. I managed to pick up almost all the Plop! issues when they came out but the last few comics were pretty workman like. I still have most of my original first 10 issues. I never noticed or knew that about Berni's name , thanks Kid.
ReplyDeleteYeah, got that ish as well. It was a Millennium Edition.
DeleteI remember picking up Plop #1 from a newsagent in Albert Rd, Southsea, plus certainly the next few issues. I think I was absolutely at the right age - 13 for the anarchic black humour of the book to really appeal to me. It still makes me smile.
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