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http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-artist-mad-editor-feldstein-dies/

LIVINGSTON - Albert B. Feldstein was editor of MAD magazine for nearly 30 years.

He oversaw much of its wacky content including the development of Alfred E. Neuman, the magazine's cover boy and mascot.

He lived a low-key existence in the Paradise Valley for more than two decades, his wife, Michelle, said Wednesday.

He painted fine Western art, revisited his early comic-book work, and rescued animals on his Paradise Valley ranch.

Born in Brooklyn in 1925, Feldstein worked in comic books in the 1950s before joining MAD Magazine, where he worked as editor for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1984.

The period included the development of MAD's signature wackiness, sharp social commentary and recurring features such as its television and movie spoofs, the "Spy vs. Spy" comic and the wildly stylized human characters of Don Martin.

He died Tuesday at 88.

No services are being held.


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/efrem-zimbalist-jr-dead-star-700983

Dick Ayers, one of the last of the major artists of the early "Marvel Age of Comics," has died. It happened yesterday, only days following his 90th birthday. The cause is being reported as complications from Parkinson's Disease, a condition he had battled for some time.

Ayers was born April 28, 1924 in Ossining, New York. He did his first comic art while in the Army Air Corps during World War II. After his discharge, he sought work from comic book publishers but was told his work wasn't quite good enough. He studied with at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York, later known as the School of Visual Arts. The co-creator of Superman, Joe Shuster, visited the class and this led to Ayers assisting Shuster, who by then needed a lot of help due to failing eyesight. Ayers then worked for an any number of publishers throughout the fifties but he was best known for a western hero he designed named The Ghost Rider.

Eventually, he did most of this work for Stan Lee at the company now known as Marvel. When the company had to downsize, Ayers found himself out of work and wound up getting a job, which he hated, at the post office. He continuously pestered Stan Lee to help him out of that situation and eventually, Stan brought him back to ink much of what Jack Kirby was doing for the film and also to pencil some comics.

He was pretty good at inking Kirby's work and not bad at taking over the penciling of a strip that Kirby had launched. He drew Giant-Man, The Human Torch and others but super-heroes were not his strength. He did better at westerns and war books including a long run on Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. At one point, Marvel even decided to revive The Ghost Rider, reportedly without permission, and Ayers wound up drawing a new version of that old character.

In the seventies, Dick had some trouble giving editors at Marvel what they wanted and he eventually found himself without sufficient work. Neal Adams intervened at DC to get them to take him on and for years, Dick worked mainly as a layout artist for them. He did many issues of Kamandi, The Unknown Soldier, Jonah Hex and other DC titles. Fans began to approach him about doing re-creations of his past work, particularly covers he'd done with Kirby, and he did a lot of that. That put him on the convention circuit where I got to spend a lot of time interviewing him on panels and talking with him when we weren't on stage. He was a charming gent with an amazing lifetime output of popular comics. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

http://www.newsfromme.com/

Former heavyweight boxing champion Jimmy Ellis, who trained with fellow Louisville fighter Muhammad Ali and squared off against some of his era's best fighters, has died in his hometown. He was 74.

Ellis' brother, Jerry, said the ex-champion died at a Louisville hospital Tuesday after suffering from Alzheimer's disease in recent years.

Ellis defeated Jerry Quarry to win the WBA crown in 1968. Ellis defended the title by defeating Floyd Patterson, but was stopped by Joe Frazier in a fight to unify the world heavyweight championship in 1970.

He was stopped by Ali in the 12th round of their bout in 1971.

Ellis, the son of a preacher, retired from boxing in 1975. He spent years training fighters and later worked for the Louisville parks department.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/boxing-champion-jimmy-ellis-dies-23611069