Me and Al Feldtein

When Al Feldstein took over being editor of MAD magazine from Harvey Kurtzman and began to change things I was not very happy. MAD was losing its luster - or its glow-in-the-dark image. The art was becoming weaker, the articles were not as shocking, and all and in all, I thought it was just not as good, and I held Al Feldstein responsible. I didn't like him at all.
Then, I met him at the 1997 Comic Convention in Atlanta and found him to be very friendly, warm, and opened. I changed my mind, he is a much better person than I thought.
Before MAD came along, Al and E.C. Publisher William Gaines wrote most of the EC horror and sci-fi stories themselves. They had a productive comic creative assembly line going, producing sometimes a story a day, and most of them were very good and insightful.
When I met Al there, he told me he moved to Colorado and had a small ranch and was doing paintings of the countryside. He is also a very good painter.