Tom's Mad Blog
April 4th, 2016 | Posted in Monday MADness
Television executives weren’t always the entertainment geniuses they are today, where they either endlessly mine comic books and graphic novels for ideas for shows, or just steal ideas from other shows ideas for ideas for shows… or pretend a completely scripted and carefully calculated program is an “unscripted reality show”. As recently as 2007, some TV executives actually thought it was a good idea to create a show based on characters from TV ads, specifically the Geico insurance “cavemen” (psst… it was NOT a good idea). Never one to restrain themselves from shooting fish in a barrel, MAD jumped on this dogpile with the feature… READ MORE
April 3rd, 2016 | Posted in Mailbag
A: Hi Tom! Two questions. First, what mandatory actions will inevitably take place that you feel in your gut will be guided by destiny to sky rocket the popularity of the printed MAD magazine on a path to go above and beyond the highest peak in readership from the 70s to three million readers once again making reading MAD cooler than listening to Led Zeppelin while having sex on a motorcycle that sits on top of a skateboard on fire with a cigarette in your mouth, just like it already is? I am probably not supposed to reveal this, but MAD does have a proposed… READ MORE
April 1st, 2016 | Posted in General
There is an empty lot up on a very busy intersection up near my house that until about a year ago had a BP gas and service station on it. That was razed and the lot still stands empty with no signs on it about what may be coming on the space. At 4 am this morning I put this sign up on the lot. It’s 4’x8′. The only clue it’s a prank is a small Alfred E Neuman face at the bottom right corner. Sadly it’s very windy today, so I have twice been up there to fix the sign. I took this photo… READ MORE
March 31st, 2016 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The legendary Al Jaffee The Lovely Anna and I were lucky to be able to attend a special event last night in celebration of the great Al Jaffee‘s 95th birthday at Sardi’s in New York City. Hosted by DC Entertainment, a crowd of Al’s family, friends and colleagues congratulated Al on seven decades (and going) of work as a cartoonist and on 95 years on the planet. The evening included some big surprises, including Al’s induction into the Guinness Book of World Records and a NYC Mayoral Proclamation. Al and MAD writer Dick DeBartolo More of MAD’s Usual Idiots (Clockwise lower left): MAD photographer Irving… READ MORE
March 30th, 2016 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Traveling. Can’t post a fresh sketch today. Here’s a golden oldie from 2007 of Leonardo DiCaprio. READ MORE
March 29th, 2016 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Thought this was interesting. This is an ad on Playbill.com looking for comedy performers for a new live show. For those that don’t know, there was a MAD live show Off-Broadway back in 1966, written by MAD writers Larry Siegel and Stan Hart, and the original cast included Linda Lavin and Jo Anne Worley. I have no clue who is behind this, what connection MAD really has to it (which could range from 100% to DC Entertainment only licensing out the MAD name ala the FOX TV show). I’ll have to ask the MAD staff about it. READ MORE
March 28th, 2016 | Posted in General
I really did like Batman v Superman… I just couldn’t resist. READ MORE
March 27th, 2016 | Posted in General
Q: I’m a published Illustrator, have even won a few awards. I don’t use any computer programs. I simply draw everything by hand. I’m finding it very hard to compete with other illustrators who do use alot of technology to do their work. What I’m really wanting to know is if it’s worth getting out of my comfort zone and learning to do digital drawings or at least digitally enhanced drawings? I can make my work look just as good but I find it takes me soooo long to do compared to artists using Adobe/Photoshop. A: I still mostly draw (and ink when inking is required) the… READ MORE
