Gargoyle Humor Magazine
Encyclopedia
College humor magazines
Many colleges and universities publish satirical journals conventionally referred to as "humor magazines." Among the most famous: the Harvard Lampoon, which gave rise to the National Lampoon in 1970, The Yale Record, the nation's oldest college humor magazine , Princeton Tiger Magazine, the...
for the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. It has been satirizing
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
both local and national events for more than one hundred years. The magazine is part of the University's Student Publications, which also includes the campus newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, The Michigan Daily
Michigan Daily
The Michigan Daily is the daily student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other student groups, but shares a university building with other...
, as well as the yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
, the Michiganensian.
To current and former editors
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
and staff, Gargoyle Humor Magazine is often known simply as The Garg.
Location
The Gargoyles office is located on the second floor of the Student Publications Building at 420 Maynard Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The office serves as the staff's production area; it is also home to a number of relics, including two bombshells obtained from the local army surplus and a poster from popular film Whore 2.History
La Choy
La Choy is a brand name of canned and prepackaged American Chinese food ingredients. The brand was purchased in 1990 from Beatrice Foods by ConAgra Foods during the LBO firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' dismantling of the company and is still currently a property of ConAgra.-Early history:La Choy was...
. Gargoyle was initially a literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
featuring stories, articles and pictures with a back section devoted to comedy
Humor magazine
A humor magazine is a magazine specifically designed to deliver humorous content to its readership. These publications often offer satire, but some put an emphasis on cartoons, one-liners or humorous essays.-Out-of-print humor magazines:...
.
In the 1920s and 30s, a period during which it was selected as America's Outstanding College Comic Magazine, Gargoyle was published monthly during the school year. The decrease in male students brought about by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
resulted in the first woman, Olga Gruhzit, becoming editor of Gargoyle in 1942. In 1944, at the height of the war, Gargoyle briefly ceased publication, only to return in the fall of 1945.
Gargoyle was declared dead in 1950 when the Board in Control of Student Publications took offense to the "The Smooth Gargoyle" issue. Publication continued off campus for a year, and when Gargoyle returned the next year, literary pieces were discontinued and the focus became solely humor. During the 1950s the magazine acquired a counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
reputation, promoting everything from co-ed housing in the '50s to Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
protests in the '60s. In response to the advent of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
in the '50s and the sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
of the '60s, Gargoyle became progressively more risque. While sex, illegal drugs, and otherwise raunchy jokes have been common fare in issues of the Gargoyle since the 1970s, the magazine has generally tried to maintain a level of intelligence and artistry in its humor.
Art editor Phil Zaret's satirical cartoon, "Kill a Commie for Christ", originally published in the Gargoyle in 1967, became extremely popular during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and was re-published by college publications throughout the United States.
Though the Gargoyle was very successful in the '60's, it struggled to publish in the early '70s, returned for a few issues in 1974-75, and returned to consistent publication in 1979. The magazine has been forced off-campus (in 1950) and shut down completely (1960-61, 1997) as the result of editorial and financial conflicts with the Board for Student Publications (previously the Board in Control of Student Publications). At one time the magazine was sold for prices varying from fifty cents to two dollars, but for the last five years, it has been free, all revenue being generated by advertisements.
In 1962 cartoonist Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
responded to a request for a Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
cartoon by drawing Snoopy
Snoopy
Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...
with his nose perched over the end of his dog house in the manner of a gargoyle -- this became a standard Snoopy pose.
Mascots
Over the decades it has been a Gargoyle tradition for the mascot to periodically change at the whims of the current editor and artists on staff.Notable alumni
In the 1999 book "Gargoyle Laughs at the 20th Century," editor John Dobbertin compiled all Gargoyle staff members credited in the mastheadMasthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
to date. This list includes several University of Michigan alumni before they became famous, including the following:
- Lee Blaser, cartoonist.
- Mark Dancey, cartoonist/editor (Motorbooty).
- Lloyd DangleLloyd DangleLloyd Dangle is an American writer and visual artist, particularly known as a cartoonist, illustrator, and political satirist...
, cartoonist (TroubletownTroubletownTroubletown was a syndicated weekly comic strip by American cartoonist Lloyd Dangle. Begun in 1988, it ran in many alternative weeklies including The Stranger, The Portland Mercury, and The Austin Chronicle. It also appeared in The Progressive magazine...
). - Jerry Ellison, cartoonist.
- Larry BrilliantLarry BrilliantLawrence "Larry" Brilliant is an American physician, epidemiologist, technologist, author, and the former director of Google's philanthropic arm Google.org. Brilliant, a technology patent holder, has been CEO of two public companies and other venture backed start ups. From 1973 to 1976, he...
, philanthropist - Max HodgeMax HodgeMax Hodge was an American television writer who worked on shows including The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., CHiPS and Mission: Impossible, and is perhaps best known for creating Mr. Freeze for Batman....
, television screenwriter/director/producer. - Lawrence KasdanLawrence KasdanLawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...
, screenwriter/director. - Terry LaBanTerry LaBanTerry LaBan is an alternative/underground cartoonist and newspaper comic strip artist. He is probably best known for his comic book series Cud, and his syndicated strip Edge City....
, cartoonist (Edge CityEdge City"Edge City" is an American newspaper comic strip created by the husband and wife team of Terry LaBan and Patty LaBan. The scripts are written by both of them, with the art being created by Terry LaBan. The strip debuted in 2000 and is syndicated by King Features Syndicate.The main characters in...
). - George LichtyGeorge LichtyGeorge Lichty was an American cartoonist, creator of the daily and Sunday cartoon series Grin and Bear It. His work was signed Lichty and often ran without mention of his first name....
(under the name Maurice Lichtenstein), cartoonist (Grin and Bear ItGrin and Bear ItGrin and Bear It is a daily panel created by George Lichtenstein under the penname George Lichty. Initially distributed by United Feature Syndicate, it was syndicated by Field Enterprises beginning in 1940. Field Enterprises was sold in 1986 to King Features Syndicate which continues to distribute...
). - Janet MalcolmJanet MalcolmJanet Malcolm is an American writer and journalist on staff at The New Yorker magazine. She is the author of Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession , In the Freud Archives and The Journalist and the Murderer ....
, essayist, journalist, and critic. - Allen Milgrom, cartoonist/editor (Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
). - Arthur MillerArthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
, playwright. - David NewmanDavid Newman (filmmaker)David Newman was an American filmmaker. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s he frequently collaborated with Robert Benton. He was married to fellow writer Leslie Newman, with whom he had two children, until the time of his death...
, screenwriter. - Robert ShayeRobert ShayeRobert Kenneth Shaye , often referred to as Bob Shaye, is an American businessman, film producer, director and actor.-Early life:...
, producer (New Line Cinemas). - Paul Showers, journalist (New York Times).
- Fred Ziv, screenwriter/producer.