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Will Elder

William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952. Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner said, "He was a zany, and a lovable one." Longtime Mad writer-cartoonist Al Jaffee called Elder "Absolutely brilliant... he was the star from the beginning. He had a feel for the kind of satire that eventually spread everywhere." Elder was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2018, the Comics Reporter s Tom Spurgeon described Elder as "an amazing artist, a sneaky spot-holder on the top 20 of the 20th century".

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Article summary

William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952. Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner said, "He was a zany, and a lovable one." Longtime Mad writer-cartoonist Al Jaffee called Elder "Absolutely brilliant... he was the star from the beginning. He had a feel for the kind of satire that eventually spread everywhere." Elder was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2018, the Comics Reporter s Tom Spurgeon described Elder as "an amazing artist, a sneaky spot-holder on the top 20 of the 20th century".

Key claims

  1. date of birth: 1921-09-22 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. date of death: 2008-05-15 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  3. publication date: 1962 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  4. publication date: 1970 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  5. publication date: 2006 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of birth is "1921-09-22". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the date of death is "2008-05-15". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. The record states that the publication date is "1962". What evidence would count against this claim?
  5. The record states that the publication date is "1970". What evidence would count against this claim?
  6. The record states that the publication date is "2006". What evidence would count against this claim?
  7. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  8. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1332937446

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.