Dr. JiveTurkey

When we decided to produce THE BROWNSTONES, a wickedly funny sendup of The Flintstones, for CRAZY Magazine, editor Larry Hama was so sure we'd all be fired he almost pulled the story. It was blatantly racist, although it did make huge points about how very white the Flintstones were, and how things would have been different had they been black.

Worried about picket lines and bomb threats, not to mention losing his job, Hama shut the door and thought long and hard about what we were doing. In the end, he decided, if he's goin to be in "The Yocks Biz," then he had to take chances. There was absolutely no point in publishing a humor rag is we weren't prepared, first and foremost, to make fun of ourselves. If our very livelihoods were not at stake, each and every day, then we really didn't deserve the gig in the first place.

However, to hedge our bets a little, we decided to run a disclaimer before the piece, and even the disclaimer suddenly became the subject of arch parody as Eliot R. Brown shot this photo essay in Al Milgrom's office, featuring Crazy's obsequious proctologist/gourmet chef Dr. JiveTurkey.

We didn't get even one subscription cancellation, and no more hate mail than we got every month anyway. It seems Dr. Turkey stopped the brouhaha in its tracks, and when we later reprinted The Brownstones in an anthology, there wasn't even a peep from outside the company or within. score one for free speech.

THE BROWNSTONES and DR. JIVETURKEY  Copyright © 2003  Marvel Characters.  All Rights Reserved.