American cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman was the founding editor and primary writer for the humor periodical Mad from its founding in 1952 until its 28th issue in 1956. Featuring pop-culture parodies and social satire, what began as a color comic book became a black-and-white magazine with its 24th issue. In 1952 EC Comics publisher William Gaines suggested Kurtzman take on a humor title to supplement his income as editor and writer on the war series Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. Kurtzman's Mad stories at first lampooned comic book genres; soon Kurtzman took to parodying specific targets from popular culture, a style which became a staple of Mad. Kurtzman targeted and exposed what he saw as fundamental untruths in the subjects parodied. Jack Davis, Wally Wood, and especially Will Elder were the most prominent of early Mads stable of artists. Mads signature style was to target pop-culture subjects with parody and social satire, and playfulness such as covers disguised as school notebooks or contents printed upside-down. Kurtzman's war titles ceased following the end of the Korean War in 1953, and Mad went from bi-monthly to monthly in 1954. Kurtzman pushed to have it turned into a magazine, which Gaines agreed to in 1955. Plummeting sales of EC's horror comics following the 1954 Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency led to the cancelation of every EC title except Mad by the end of 1955. In 1956 Kurtzman demanded 51% ownership; Gaines refused, and Kurtzman left with the bulk of Mads creative staff to found the short-lived Trump, published by Hugh Hefner. EC writer and editor Al Feldstein took over as editor at Mad, under whom sales climbed and the magazine became a newsstand fixture. Kurtzman went from one financially unstable publication to another before landing a regular position at Hefner's Playboy magazine with the comic strip Little Annie Fanny. History Kurtzman at EC (1949–52) In 1949 Harvey Kurtzman (1924–1993) brought sample artwork to the offices of EC Comics in New York City. "EC" had originally stood for "Educational Comics" when it was run by early comic-book business pioneer Max Gaines, but his son Bill renamed it "Entertaining Comics" and changed the company's focus when he inherited the business. Gaines liked the samples of Kurtzman's Hey Look! strip, but had no immediate use for his skills. Gaines directed Kurtzman to his brother David, who gave Kurtzman low-paying work on Lucky Fights it Through, a two-fisted