Tom's Mad Blog
March 27th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
In a rare break from tradition, the original of this sketch is still available! We are Burning Down the House with this week’s sketch of “Talking Heads” frontman David Byrne! The “Talking Heads” was one of those bands that was impossible to categorize. They came into being during the punk rock/New wave era of the late 1970’s, but they weren’t really part of either movement, although “New Wave” is what they get shoehorned into when being discussed. They were the definition of “their own thing”, and a big part of that was Byrne’s oddball but charismatic presence. You couldn’t quite tell if he and the… READ MORE
March 26th, 2024 | Posted in News
Come find me this week at Wondercon at the National Cartoonists Society booth Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! I’ll have copies of CLAPTRAP, Sketch o’the Week book, prints and will be doing commissions… the usual garbage. READ MORE
March 25th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We interrupt the incessant and increasingly idiotic idling through my work at MAD because it was at this point in the timeline that it was announced MAD was moving from its New York City home of 65 years to sunny Burbank, California. Most people who read this blog already know this story, but this next paragraph is the tl;dr version of why this happened: In 2015 DC Entertainment closed up the New York City offices of its DC Comics publishing group and moved everything to the Warner Bros Complex out in Burbank. MAD was part of those publishing operations and the magazine’s offices were part… READ MORE
March 22nd, 2024 | Posted in General
Condolences to the friends and family of character actor extraordinaire M. Emmet Walsh, who passed away on Tuesday. He appears here as “Captain Bryant” in our parody of “Blade Runner” in CLAPTRAP. READ MORE
March 20th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We continue our new “famous blind black musicians” series this week with the late, great Ray Charles! Actually we really could do a series of famous blind black musicians if we wanted to. Ronnie Milsap, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind John Davis, Art Tatum, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Blind Boys of Mississippi… that would keep me busy for a couple of months! I think we’ll cap it off with Brother Ray, though. This sketch is based on a caricature of him in one of the panels from “The Blues Brothers”… READ MORE
March 18th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
No one is happy that today is both a Monday and the day after St. Patricks Day, but we here at Tom’s MAD Blog are ready to make things even worse for you with yet another episode of our cringey chronological crawl through Tom’s work at MAD. We’ve reached the end of 2016, and that meant another year end “MAD 20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things” issue. I had two pieces in this issue, this one being one of those extremely rare instances of a political piece that didn’t have anything to do with Trump. This feature first appeared in MAD #543, Feb 2017 and… READ MORE
March 17th, 2024 | Posted in General
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all you Irish folks out there! This is my annual posting o’the Alfred leprechaun illustration I did years ago for a T-shirt for MAD/DC. But WAIT… here’s a sneak peek at something much more recent… Could this be an updated Alfred E. Leprechaun T-shirt? I’ll let you know when I’m allowed to let you know! READ MORE
March 13th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Better late than never! “I just called… to say… I sketched you!” I’m taking an extended break from doing TV sitcoms cast sketches and doing some other subjects, so feel free to make some suggestions! Thanks to subscriber Stu Miller, who suggested I draw Stevie. I can’t believe I missed doing him back when I did my “Rock Icons” series. He’s easily one of the greatest musicians and songwriters in the history of pop music. An incredible talent. READ MORE
