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visualizes his father

good Samaritan neighbors

a bright red go kart

a rather unique-looking go kart

as Axil proves

sleazy-looking mayor

The kreative kart konversion

a huge pinball machine

Inside the cleverly-designed racetrack

inside-front-cover feature

inside-back-cover feature

back-cover feature

Cartoonist David “Dave” Berg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 12, 1920. He studied at the Pratt Institute (at age 12!), the Cooper Union At School and the Art Students League. (He later attended the College of New Rochelle.) Berg served with the US Army Air Corps and as a war correspondent during World War II. He began his career as working for the Demby art studio in 1939; the next year, he moved up to the art studio of Will (THE SPIRIT) Eisner -- alongside such cartoonists as the young Jules Feiffer -- first as a writer, then as a writer/artist. One of his assignments there was “The Death Patrol” a feature created by cartoonist Jack Cole in 1941, one that ran in the pages of Quality Comics’ MILITARY COMICS; Berg drew the humorous feature from MILITARY COMICS’ fourth issue through its twelfth. Berg also worked on Quality’s BLACKHAWK, UNCLE SAM and Will Eisner’s own syndicated Sunday feature, THE SPIRIT. In the early days of his long career, Berg also worked for Dell Publications (“Jinx”, “Three Wishes” and “War Heroes”), Fawcett Publications CAPTAIN MARVEL, “Sir Butch” and “Spooks”) and Fiction House (“Private Elmer Pippin”). Dave Berg had a long relationship with Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics from the mid-1940s through the mid-1950s. Working for editor Stan Lee, the astonishingly versatile Berg did work for such titles as ARIZONA KID, ASTONISHING COMICS, BATTLE, BATTLE ACTION, BATTLEFIELD, BATTLEFRONT, COMBAT KELLY, CRAZY, GEORGIE, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS, MAN COMICS, MARINES IN ACTION, MARVEL TALES, MEN IN ACTION, MEN’S ADVENTURES, MYSTERY TALES, MYSTIC, MYSTICAL TALES, NAVY ACTION, NAVY COMBAT, NAVY TALES, OUTLAW TALES, RINGO KID, RIOT, STRANGE TALES, TESSIE THE TYPIST, TRUE WESTERN, UNCANNY TALES, VENUS, WAR ACTION, WAR ADVENTURES, WAR COMBAT, WAR COMICS, WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS, WESTERN OUTLAWS AND SHERIFFS, WESTERN WINNERS, WILD WESTERN, WILD, WORLD OF FANTASY, WORLD OF SUSPENSE, WORLD’S GREATEST SONGS, WYATT EARP and YOUNG MEN. During this prolific period, Berg also freelanced for Archie Publications (ARCHIE and SUZIE), Better Publications (“Junior Judo”), EC Comics, (TWO-FISTED TALES), Hillman Periodicals, St. John Publishing (WHACK!), Stanmor (JUNIOR HOP), Toby Press (MEET MERTON), Vic Verity Comics and Ziff-Davis Comics (ALICE, “David And The Dragon”, DOLLY IN DREAMLAND, “Little Sheriff”, NURSERY RHYMES and SANTA CLAUS PARADE). In 1956, Dave Berg joined “the usual gang of idiots”, writing and drawing a wide variety of features for publisher William M. Gaines’ MAD magazine, a relationship that lasted for forty years, primarily doing the magazine’s “The Lighter Side Of…” feature, which primarily examined life in suburban America, which Berg created in 1961. “The Lighter Side Of…” often featured Berg's own family, headed by his perpetually irked lookalike, “Roger Kaputnik”, his wife Vivian and his children Nancy and Mitch. Despite the fact that “The Lighter Side Of…” often used somewhat mundane situations and predictable gags, it was by far MAD’s most popular feature. Berg’s “The Lighter Side Of…” articles appeared in dozens of MAD reprint magazines and paperback books. Berg also authored a number of original MAD paperbacks, including:

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT THE U.S.A. (1964)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT PEOPLE (1966)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT THINGS (1967)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT MODERN THINKING (1969)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT OUR SICK WORLD (1971)

-- MAD MORALITY OR THE TEN COMMANDMENTS REVISTED (1972)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG MY FRIEND GOD (1972)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT LIVING (1973)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG ROGER KAPUTNIK AND GOD (1974)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AROUND (1975)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG MAD TRASH (1977)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG TAKES A LOVING LOOK (1977)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS, LISTENS AND LAUGHS (1979)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT YOU (1982)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD (1984)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT OUR PLANET (1986)

-- MAD'S DAVE BERG LOOKS AT TODAY (1987)

Over the years, Dave Berg also illustrated record albums, greeting cards, safety booklets, was a creative consultant for television shows and drew gag cartoons for the Treasury Department. For many years, he wrote and drew features for MOSHIACH TIMES, a children’s religious magazine, as well as articles for the B’NAI B’RITH NEWSLETTER. Berg was a member of the Author’s Guild, the B’nai B’Rith, the National Cartoonists Society and the Writer’s Guild West; he also actively provided public service by working with the Boy Scouts Of American, the Girl Scouts Of America, the Little League and the PTA, as well as guest-lecturing at many schools and colleges. Berg held an honorary doctorate in theology and in 1978, New Rochelle, New York, officially observed “Dave Berg Day”. To the opposite extreme, Berg was also notoriously parodied in an early issue of THE NATIONAL LAMPOON (“Are you Dave Berg? Boy, are you an asshole!”) He also created the syndicated newspaper comic strips CITIZEN SENIOR (1989 - 1993), ROGER KAPUTNIK (1992 - ?) and ASTRONUTS (1994 - ?). Dave Berg died on May 17, 2002 at the age of 81.

KIT KARTER was published soon after Dell Publishing stopped using editorial material provided by the Western Publishing Co., Inc. Essentially starting from scratch, this was a period of interesting experimentation for Dell, which tried all sorts of concepts and approaches in their new comic books. KIT KARTER was one of these, but Dell only published one issue of the comic -- which combined “Archie”-type teenage shenanigans with the national craze of go karting -- which carried no advertisements. (Perhaps that accounts for the lack of a second issue of KIT KARTER.) That “Have Kart, Will Travel” line on the cover? It’s a take-off on the title of a popular TV western series at the time, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL (9/14/1957 - 9/21/1963), which starred Richard Boone as “Paladin”.

This issue’s 8-page “Kit Karter” lead story is “A Kart Is Born”, written, drawn and lettered by Dave Berg. It begins at the Karter family dinner table, in a conversation that would be right at home in a non-existent MAD installment of “The Lighter Side Of Go Karts”. Of course, through the whole discussion, Kit is day-dreaming about riding in a go kart:

KARL KARTER:
The commander of my veterans post made me chairman of collecting food for the flood victims. I can’t seem to get our neighbors to contribute…

GO GO KARTER:
You can’t HELP LIKING people and they can’t LIKE HELPING people?

KARL KARTER:
As for you, Kit, why aren’t you eating?

KIT KARTER:
Huh? Oh, the sprockets and jack shaft doesn’t taste good.

KARL KARTER:
What’s he talking about?

KATHY KARTER:
According to Dr. Spook, when a teenage boy doesn’t eat, he suffers from gastric acidity of the lower tract.

GO GO KARTER:
In other words, he’s not hungry!

KIT KARTER:
Dad, can I have about $300 to buy a GO KART?

KARL KARTER:
$300 to BUY A WHAT? Do you think I’m MADE of MONEY?

KIT KARTER:
It’s an interesting thought!

Of course, in typical Dave Berg fashion, Kit visualizes his father as literally being “made of money”!

Then Kit provides a concise definition of a “go kart”:

KIT KARTER:
Anyway, a kart is a kind of midget open air racing car. It’s built low to the ground and runs on a two cycle engine mounted in the back. The sport started about 1957, and it’s getting more popular than pizza pies. MANIFOLD ALIVE, Dad, I gotta have one!

But dear old Roger Kaputnik, er -- dear old Dad immediately launches in a familiar speech:

KARL KARTER:
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE, that was before I was a sergeant in the Marines, when I wanted to buy something, I got a PAPER ROUTE. So if you want to buy a WHATCHAMACALLIT…a KART…DELIVER PAPERS! In fact I’m calling your bluff. I’ll call them for you!

A scant hour later, a representative of THE DAILY STAR arrives at the Karter house with a bundle of newspapers and a list of subscribers. But when Kit hears his father bellow for him, he vamooses:

KARL KARTER:
KIT! KIT KARTER! FRONT AND CENTER!

KIT KARTER (thinking):
Oh, oh, when I hear that call I get nerves that jingle jangle jingle. I better make myself scarce.

Unable to locate his son, Mr. Karter’s outraged when his wife insist that, since it was his idea to order the newspapers in the first place, it’s up to him to deliver them. Dejected, the ex-Marine peddles Kit’s bike through the suburban neighborhood, delivering newspapers. He’s spotted by Kit’s girlfriend, Claire DaLoon and her gal-pal, Vera Crews, who are curious about the reason he’s doing a kid’s job:

CLAIRE DALOON:
Mr. Karter, why are you delivering newspapers?

KARL KARTER:
Well…er…it’s this way…KIT WASN’T EATING VERY WELL and…

Mr. Karter’s evasive response gives the girls the impression that the Karter family can’t afford to buy groceries, so they thoughtfully spread the word to all their neighbors to contribute food to Kit’s family -- including Axil Greez and Kris Kross:

MRS. KROSS:
Kris, Claire DaLoon just called. She said the Karters are so bad off that Mr. Karter has to sell newspapers to get enough food.

KRIS KROSS:
That guy’s always telling people how he was a sergeant in the war. It looks like the Marines have landed…FLAT ON HIS FACE!

MRS. KROSS:
Never mind that wise guy talk! You pack a box of food and bring it over to the Karters1

KRIS KROSS:
EECCH!

Meanwhile, Kit is downtown, celebrating the fact that he’s just landed a job caddying golf. But when he sees throngs of people carrying boxes of groceries, he buys a sack of goods with the five dollars he’s just earned, follows the crowd, and is astounded to find the their good Samaritan neighbors (from New Rochelle, perhaps?) are delivering the food to his own family’s home! Mr. Karter is completely mystified by this gathering of good will:

KARL KARTER:
But…but…

CLAIRE DALOON:
You don’t have to be proud, Mr. Karter. We understand.

VERA CREWS:
You’d do the same thing for us if we were hungry and broke!

KARL KARTER:
WHO’S HUNGRY AND BROKE? I’M MADE OF MONEY! Ask Kit!

GO GO KARTER:
Maybe they think we’re poor because we’re the only family on the block who owns an American made car.

KIT KARTER:
MANIFOLD ALIVE! So THIS is the family that’s starving!

KARL KARTER:
YOU TOO BRUTUS!

KIT KARTER:
BRUTUS? It’s me, KIT. It’s a wise man who knows his own son.

KARL KARTER:
The MORTIFICATION! I’ll never be able to hold up my head in this town again. It’s all KIT’S FAULT! And what am I going to do with all this food?

But when the commander of Mr. Karter’s veteran’s post shows up with an armload of groceries, the ex-Marine sings a different tune:

VETERAN POST COMMANDER:
Karl, you ol’ son of a gun, CONGRATULATIONS! You sure pulled the WOOL over my eyes!

KARL KARTER:
I DID? I guess I just had a good YARN.

VETERAN POST COMMANDER:
What a great gimmick to invent that sob story about yourself just to get the people to contribute food to the flood victims, Karl, you’re BRILLIANT!

KARL KARTER:
I didn’t think it showed.

While the commander arranges to have the groceries picked up and distributed to the folks that really need it, Mr. Karter’s demeanor softens, admitting that their neighbors are “pretty nice”, after all:

GO GO KARTER:
That’s what’s good about people…PEOPLE!

KARL KARTER:
And I think that was a very sweet thing Kit did, giving up the money he earned to buy a kart -- giving it up to someone he thought was in trouble.

When Kit’s father realizes that there must still be neighbors who’re under the impression that his family is broke and starving, he dashes off to get something “loud and flashy” to show everyone that he’s got “money to spare”…and not long after that, he shows up driving a bright red go kart!

KATHY KARTER:
GRACIOUS! What’s all that noise?

KARL KARTER:
You said to get something LOUD and FLASHY. These things don’t have any MUFFLERS.

KIT KARTER:
Gee, Dad, it’s a GO KART for ME!

GO GO KARTER:
Hey, that’s not fair. You got KIT something EXPENSIVE. You’ll have to get ME something EXPENSIVE too.

KARL KARTER:
Huh?

KIT KARTER:
I thank you a zillion time. I want you to know, Dad, that you get me right HERE where I love…in the HEART!

KARL KARTER:
And I want you to know, son, you get ME right here where I live…in the WALLET!

(I’ll bet anything that the primary inspiration for this entire comic originated with the Berg family’s son Mitch bugging father Dave for his own go kart!)

Also included in this issue of KIT KARTER are the following stories, and features:

• “Kit Karter Kast Of Karacters”, a black-and-white, inside-front-cover feature introducing Kit’s family, friends and acquaintances, written and drawn by Dave Berg. Possibly using artwork from Berg’s editorial “pitch”, it includes Kit Karter (“He eats, sleeps, and drinks go karts…This is very bad for digestive functioning…”), Karl Karter (“Kit’s dad…He believes that a man should run the home…and he does -- he runs the vacuum, the washing machine, etc….”), Kathy Karter (“Kit’s mom…she’s an active member of the P.T.A. -- this is a good way to keep parents off the streets nights.”), Go Go Karter (“Kit’s kid sister…she belongs to an organization called -- Proper Established Sister Team…also P.E.S.T.”), Axil Greez (“Kit’s buddy boy…He’s generally confused -- he doesn’t like being confused, because it mixes him all up…”), Clare DaLoon (“Kit’s girl friend…She’s very controversial -- some people love her -- while others just merely adore her…”), Vera Crews (“Kit’s girl friend’s girl friend…to her, men are no problem at all -- they’re just a solution…”) and Kris Kross (“Kit’s rival…underneath all that hardened exterior, he’s actually a first class Nogoodnik.”)

• “Axil Greez” in “Super Marketcart”, written, drawn and lettered by Dave Berg. -- When Kit’s goofy pal Axil -- who perpetually has a transistor radio pressed to one ear -- learns that his buddy has a new go kart -- which Kit has named “Kart Blanche” -- he’s inspired to whip up his own motorized cart. Using the engine from his dad’s power lawn mower, a steering wheel, a seat and four new wheels, strapped-for-cash Axil customizes a supermarket shopping cart into a rather unique-looking go kart! The next day, Axil joins Kit at the local supermarket parking lot, where he and his rival Kris Kross are trying to impress Claire DaLoon and Vera Crews. When Axil’s nutty-looking go kart distracts the girls from watching Kris, he unintentionally attracts the suburban hood’s ire. Vera actually thinks that Axil’s new vehicle is “cute”, but before the tongue-tied teenager can hold a conversation with her, he’s interrupted by the supermarket manager, who’s angry about Axil “ruining” one of his store’s shopping carts. As Claire provides a narration -- speaking directly to the reader -- panicked Axil tries to make a getaway, but when he pulls out onto the street, he winds up being stopped by a motorcycle cop. Later, Axil -- accompanied by his angry father -- finds himself in court, facing a long list of charges, including “stealing and dismembering a shopping cart”, “unlawfully driving a go kart on the public road” and “driving without a license”. But before the judge can throw the book at Axil, the supermarket manager admits that he’s willing to drop his complaint if he can “take a ride on that fantastic thing”! The judge kinda digs Axil’s custom go kart, too, so he agrees to drop the rest of the charges if Axil complies with adding lights and license plates to his go kart to make it street-legal, then get a learner’s permit to drive, “Of course, an adult must accompany you when you drive.” Axil’s father gloats that there’s no way his son can get him to accompany him in the shopping go kart, but as Axil proves, “Nothing is impossible, Pop.”

• “Kit Karter” in “Rumor Has It…”, written, drawn and lettered by Dave Berg. -- When Kit daydreams out loud, “Manifold alive, I wish they’d call off school today, so I can work on my kart”, he’s overheard by Axil Greez. Soon, as Kit’s misheard words are passed along from one student to the next, the rumor grows to the point where it passes back around to Kit. When he reacts with an “undignified and vulgar bombastic outburst”, his teacher, Miss Crockendale, sends him to see the principal, Mr. Hucklebuck, for “disciplinary action”. But on his way to the principal’s office, Kit innocently repeats that “the principal is calling school off today because of a special holiday” to a passing teacher, who passes along the rumor to Miss Crockendale, who believes it this time. Rushing to the principal’s office, she barges in before Kit, but Principal Hucklebuck dismisses it as “a vicious and unfounded rumor”. But when Kit repeats the story to him, the principal begins to think that there might be something to the rumor. Meanwhile, leaving the principal’s office, Kit runs into the visiting Superintendent Of Schools, who the student warns not to mention anything about school being called off, because “it’s a sore point with him.” When the superintendent and the principal compare notes, they decide to call the mayor to “get to the bottom of this”. When the sleazy-looking mayor gets the superintendent’s call, he has his gorgeous secretary look up the alleged “very special holiday” in city’s old records. Apparently, “in 1776, Kenneth Karter spread the rumor that the British were coming. This later proved to be true, saving the town.” Therefore, school is closed and Kit gets his wish to spend all day working on his go kart, due to “Rumor Day”!

• “Kit Karter” in “Real Wild Blue Yonder”, written, drawn and lettered by Dave Berg. -- When Kit and “Kart Blanche” win another race, a needling comment from Kris Kross inspires him to turn his go kart into a helicopter. But when Kit’s father hears of his son’s far-fetched plans, he warns him that if he doesn’t get their lawn watered by 4:00 PM, Kit won’t get to borrow his car for his date with Claire later that night. Overhearing this, Kris realizes that if he encourages Kit to work on converting his go kart, he’ll miss his father’s deadline and won’t be able to take Claire to the big basketball game, leaving her dateless so Kris can move in for the kill. The kreative kart konversion is slow-moving. but when Kris attaches the garden hose to one of the kart’s ‘copter blades -- just to slow down Kit’s progress -- he winds up helping his rival water the lawn! Convinced that his son has intentionally invented a new “lawn watering device”, Mr. Karter gladly hands over his car keys to Kit, while all the soaking wet Kris Kross can say is, “Eeech!”

• “Kit Karter” in “Double Dated”, written, drawn and lettered by Dave Berg. -- When Kit books dates with Claire DaLoon (for the country club dance) and Vera Crews (for the square dance), he’s ecstatic. That is, until Axil Greez reminds him that both events are on the same night! Determined to keep both dates at the same time, Kit goes through a dizzying series of quick-changes of attire between a rented tuxedo for the dance and overall jeans for the hoe-down. But when a wandering transient discovers the double-dating teenager’s tux hidden in a sack, Kit inadvertently winds up dressed in the hobo’s rags at the country club dance. And when Vera shows up -- Kris Kross told he that he saw Kit driving from one affair to the other -- Kit is caught in the girls’ crossfire when they begin to argue over whose date Kit actually is! While Kit recovers from their thrashing, Claire and Vera take up with Axil and Kris, who arrived at the dance “stag”. When the old tramp -- now wearing Kit’s rented tux -- asks the kart-krazy kid, “Saturday night and no date?”, Kit’s answer is “Nope, Saturday night and too many dates.”

• “Kit Karter” in “The Female Of The Species”, written, drawn and lettered by Dave Berg. -- Claire DaLoon and Vera Crews convince Kit Karter, Axil Greez and Kris Kross to take them out to the “Drive-A-Rama”, a go kart track with “a clever new gimmick to test your driving ability”. (Kit drives his father’s compact station wagon so that they can take along their go karts.) Once there, they discover that the Drive-A-Rama is actually constructed like a huge pinball machine, one that’s big enough to use go karts instead of chrome steel balls! Inside the cleverly-designed racetrack, Kit, Axil and Kris go first, with Kit scoring the highest. Then Claire and Vera, driving Kit and Kris’ karts, try their hand at go karting for the first time. The boys are shocked to learn that the girls beat their scores without tilting the machine. Kit is so stunned at their victory that he even allows Claire to drive. But when she tries to back out of their parking place beneath the gigantic structure, she crashes into one of the “legs” of the Drive-A-Rama, crunching the rear fender of Kit’s dad’s car -- and tilting the huge pinball machine in the process!

• “Kart Safety”, a black-and-white, inside-back-cover feature, written and drawn by Dave Berg.

• “Driver Safety”, a back-cover feature, written and drawn by Dave Berg.

ODDBALL FACTOID – Surprisingly, in addition to KIT KARTER , Dave Berg simultaneously on other four-color comic books while creating “The Lighter Side Of…” for every issue of MAD magazine! These included Dell Publications’ ENSIGN O'TOOLE and PONYTAIL and Western Publishing Co. Inc.’s BEETLE BAILEY, “Billy Carter”, BULLWINKLE and NANCY AND SLUGGO, all during the early 1960s!

Bonus ODDBALL FACTOID – Dave Berg’s wife of fifty years, the former Vivian Lipman, also worked in the comic book business!

New Next Week: ODDBALL COMIC #1,192: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007 – So, this priest walks into a Catholic school and he runs into a girl who’s too busy reading a copy of TREASURE CHEST OF FUN AND FACT comics to see him, so when they collide, she drops copies of the educational funnybook all over the floor and then… Hmmm, sounds like the set-up for a joke, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s just the cover for this week’s ODDBALL COMIC! (But is this religion-based anthology truly Oddball? Hey, is the pope Catholic?)

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