this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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Today I Learned (TIL)

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Addams would enjoy the Presbyterian Cemetery on Mountain Avenue in Westfield as a child, where – according to author and Addams expert Ron MacCloskey – he would wonder what it was like to be dead.[5] In the cartoons, his ghoulish creations lived on Cemetery Ridge with a dreadful view.

A house on Elm Street and another on Dudley Avenue – into which police once caught him breaking and entering – are said to be the inspiration for the Addams Family mansion in his cartoons. College Hall, the oldest building on the current campus of the University of Pennsylvania, where Addams studied, was also an inspiration for the mansion.[6] One friend said of him: "His sense of humor was a little different from everybody else's." He was also artistically inclined, "drawing with a happy vengeance", according to a biographer.[3]

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

Original Morticia from her grave (his first wife):

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/208438556/barbara-jean-hersey

Original model pack by Charles Addams: https://archive.org/details/adamsfamilymodelpack/page/n49/mode/2up

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[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 48 points 2 weeks ago

That's why I find it so funny when people want to complain/explain how authentic Wednesday is in the new series. They usually compare it to the first movie when there have already been numerous different interpretations to choose from.

BTW, the original TV series is available for free on YouTube.

I love how much Luiz Guzman personifies the original Gomez, instead of the hot Raul Julia Gomez, Hes small and round and weird looking

[–] calliope@retrolemmy.com 18 points 2 weeks ago

I wanted to make sure they were essentially like newspaper comics and they were mainly printed in the New Yorker!

They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in The New Yorker between 1938 and their creator's death in 1988.

[–] TheSlad@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago

His comics had a wide variety of subject matter, kind of like a more edgy version of The Farside. The addams family were recurring characters that showed up every now and then until their popularity eclipsed all the other stuff he drew.

Theres a big anthology of his work floating around my moms house somewhere that I used to look through when I was younger.

[–] Tramdan@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is great, I really appreciate you posting this.

[–] Tramdan@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It only shows a few pages for me and then goes to "limited preview."

[–] Tramdan@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maybe I should scan my copy...

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think you're getting into copyright infringement territory. There's a reason it's on the limited preview, someone blocked them from showing it.

[–] Tramdan@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

Yes, I've changed my mind!

[–] ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I’m sorry, complete mindsplosion by the fact that, although the comics were black and white, the cover is in full colour!?!

It’s a completely different feel!

[–] lettruthout@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Did this one have a caption?

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

I'm having a hard time finding the og strips since I think they're still controlled by The New Yorker. I didn't see a caption.

I found this Gold Key comic in the archives, but it doesn't say if he was the autho. I doubt he was:

https://archive.org/details/Hanna-BarberasTheAddamsFamilyGoldKey/Hanna-Barbera%27s%20The%20Addams%20Family%20%231%20%28Gold%20Key%201974%29/page/n5/mode/2up

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

From your link the caption was

"It's the children, darling, back from camp."

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

I….did not even see or read the text. I suck.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There was a book of his cartoons at my house when I was young (never really thought about who in my family bought it), and I loved it. Probably responsible for some of my personality today.

[–] Tramdan@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Hmm, I think there were more then one. That one might have been included, but there was this one for sure:

image

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

It’s disappointing that there is no complete collection. Maybe the rights are too tangled up?

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Bonus Jed Clampett back there.