Another MADness Interlude: The Wonder Woman Book That Wasn’t!

Page one of our “pitch” spread

Back in 2016 MAD started producing a series of parodies of children’s books starting with Goodnight Batcave (spoofing the beloved Margaret Wise Brown/Clement Hurd classic Goodnight Moon) written by MAD editor Dave Croatto with art by me. We followed that in 2017 with Superman and and the Miserable, Rotten, No Fun, Really Bad Day, also written by Dave with art by me, and in 2018 with Don’t Let the Penguin Drive the Batmobile, this time penned by another MAD editor, Jacob Lambert, and again with art by yours truly. I talked about that one last week.

Page two

Shortly after MAD moved to Burbank in early 2018, we actually pitched another kids book parody to DC, this one entitled Where the Wonder Things Are, spoofing another classic kids book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. This time MAD editor Paula Sevenbergen was doing the writing and I was going to do the art. I did one sample spread for the “pitch”, but the concept was passed on by the Powers that Be at DC. I get to share it here because according to the agreement if not published within two years of the agreement date, the artwork is no longer under a confidentiality clause (always read the fine print) and this all went down in May of 2018. Here’s the other half of the spread, and the complete spread:

Like the other books, I had to get the feel of the original book’s illustrations, in this case the great Maurice Sendak, as well as somehow incorporate DC superheroes into the mix. If the characters remind you a little of Darwyn Cooke‘s designs, that’s on purpose. MAD wanted a classic 50’s sort of feel to the characters, and his had that look.

Obviously DC decided against doing the book. It would have been a fun project and it would have been nice to have a Wonder Woman book out there, especially at that time. There are never enough girl-orientated products in the DC line and the Wonder Woman movie had just been a major hit the year before. Paula stopped by my table at New York Comic Con this past weekend and we once again lamented DC’s decision. C’est la vie.

Toon in next week for a special spooky Halloween edition!