Drawn and Quartered: The Return of a Classic

by Charles Addams

(1912-88) Charles Samuel Addams or "Chill" as friends called him, was born on 1/7/1912 in Westfield, NJ. Records show that at his birth the Addams' lived on Summit Ave. They moved several times before taking up permanent residence in '20 on Elm St. & stayed there until '47. He attended public school in Westfield & was fond of visiting the Presbyterian Cemetery on Mountain Ave. When he was a youngster he was caught by the police for breaking into a house on Dudley Ave. On the 2nd floor of the garage behind the main house there's a chalk drawing of a skeleton which is believed to have been drawn by him. That house on Dudley & one on Elm is said to be the inspiration for the famous Addams Family house. At Westfield HS, he became the art editor for the Weather Vane & drew many cartoons. He graduated in '29 & attended Colgate University for a year. He switched to the University of Pennsylvania & then studied at Grand Central School of Art in NY City. His dream was to work for The New Yorker Magazine. He started submitting cartoons as early as '35, his 1st was entitled "I forgot my Skates." In '40 he submitted "Downhill Skier" & that got him an offer to come on board full time for NY's premiere magazine. He continued there until his death in '88, drawing over 1300 cartoons. On occasion, his work appeared in other publications such as Colliers & TV Guide. 1937 was the 1st year that an Addams Family cartoon appeared. It featured only Morticia & Lurch. They didn't look like we know them today. Morticia's hair was styled differently & Lurch looked more like Boris Karloff in OLD DARK HOUSE than the Frankenstein monster. As years went by, other members started appearing including Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandmama & Thing.

Genres: Comics, Cartoon, Humor, Art, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Horror

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

The macabre humor and Gothic settings characterized many cartoons, first apparent in the New Yorker, of known American cartoonist Charles Samuel Addams.

Chas Addams best created "The Addams Family" comic characters, adapted for a variety of media. His signature style involved single panels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...

Reviews

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

English Review below.

لطالما كنت من المعجبين بأفلام عائلة آدامز، لكنني لم أعرف أبدًا أنها تستند إلى شخصيات كوميكس حتى وقت قريب. تشارلز أدامز هو صانع عائلة آدامز الغريبة، ونرى لمحات منهم هنا في هذه المجموعة من رسومه الكرتونية ، وهو يرسم رسومًا كرتونية أخرى غريبة ، كلها بروح الدعابة السوداوية.

أنا مهتمة جدًا بقراءة كل ما يمكنني العثور عليه من مجموعاته.

I've always been a fan of the Addams Family movies, but I never knew they were based off of comical characters until recently. Charles Addams is the maker of the curious Addams Family, and we see glimpses of them here in this collection of his cartoons, he draws other curious cartoons, all with dark humour.

I'm very interested in reading whatever I can find of his collections.

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the books occupying the odd assortment of shelves in the family cottage on Lake Michigan belonged to Dad's mother, Lajla. Her collections, there and at her home in Park Ridge, were impressive, ranging from leather-bound numbered sets of collected works of famous authors through innumberable paperback mysteries and Readers Digest condensations to several volumes of Charles Addams' cartoons.

I was slow in learning to read. Not having attended much kindergarten and having a Norwegian accent which served to defeat phonetic instruction, I had to go to speech therapy and special after-school classes in the first grade to get up to speed. When that happened, however, I took off, becoming a voracious reader by second and third grades.

During the summer between first and second grade my mother and grandmother were intent on helping me over the hump. Lajla took charge, setting up a schedule whereby I had to read aloud a set number of pages every morning before doing anything else. Being up in the woods and having a dog always ready for adventure, this was some incentive even though I thought the book--something like a collection of nursery rhymes--stupid. At first, I resisted, doing the exercises grudgingly. Then she added an additional incentive: a small, dated notebook and a box of adhesive colored stars. That did it somehow. A gold star and her praise were sufficient to get me to really work.

Thus, for me, the reliance on picture books for "reading" entertainment went on a bit longer than it did for most kids. In thinking about what I looked at before I could read text, two works came to mind: Steichen's photographic collection, The Family of Man, and a couple of cheap, falling apart collections of the bizarre cartoons of Charles Addams. This one, Drawn and Quartered, was his first.

[Yomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Algunas viñetas hicieron que largue una risita, pero otras fueron 🕴💀💀

[G. Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first anthology of Charles Addams' cartoons, and there are some things about the way they cartoons are laid out which don't work as well as later books. Specifically, there are many pages which print two cartoons very small on the same page, which means the resolution is not great and it affects the jokes. Addams liked to draw scenes which looked normal until you notice one small element which is really bizarre (a third arm, a coat that's too large, etc.) and changes the whole effect. So printing the cartoons too small tends to ruin the effect.
Layout issues aside, the book is great fun. Addams' humor is just as dark and hilarious here as it was years later.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful.

[Al McCarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

1942 second printing. No dust jacket.
Typical goofy macabre gags, with occasional racism.
The Family hasn't formed, but proto-Morticia and Lurch are about.

[Phillip Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this book as a child. It was kind of strange. It was like comics written on each page.

[Rodney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed watching the tv show Adams Family so when I came across this book I decided to see about the creator of the comic series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the comics in this book even though to be honest there were one or two that I wasn't able to figure out the punchline. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a few moments of laughter.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hit-or-miss ratio is far less satisfying than the average Addams collection.

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭✭

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading him since 5th grade (1965) and I never tire of him. He always seems fresh, even the ones I've read numerous times.

[James C · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a weird little find on my shelf, completely forgot I owned it. Much less did I realize it was a collection of comics until I read it

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this at a thrift shop for 50 cents. Despite the fact that a couple pages are already falling out, I'm still delighted with the find.

[Earl Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a darkly, fun book. Sardonic and classically illustrated.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming collection of humorous illustrations, most with captions beneath, but not all. And many don't need the captions anyway. Some of them you have to study the pictures closely to pick up the subtlety of the joke. Good stuff.

[Mark Bondurant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather than expecting hilarity, approach this book as more of an intellectual indulgence. These are pre-WWII cartoons, his very early years. Cutting edge for their time, but somewhat dated. It also has an introduction by Boris Karloff, penned at the height of his career.

[Michael P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of wonderful and off-kilter cartoons by the great Charles Addams.

[Alessandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long adored Charles Addams' macabre comics. The cute little paperback version was impossible to resist.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

darkly entertaining

[Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Addams is my spirit animal.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

1942 second printing. No dust jacket.
Typical goofy macabre gags, with occasional racism.
The Family hasn't formed, but proto-Morticia and Lurch are about.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit, I didn't always get these. But it kept me turning the pages nonetheless. I hadn't realized Chas had been in the biz for so long!