Tom's Mad Blog
December 19th, 2022 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s time for another MAD Monday stop on the long, exhausting and utterly pointless trek through my work at MAD Magazine. This week we have a look at another TV parody, “Parks and Recreation” written by the inimitable Arnie Kogen and first appearing in MAD #511, October 2011. This was the last parody in what was, for me, the longest run of consecutive issues of MAD featuring a full movie or TV parody with my art. If you count “The Wizard of O” (and I do) this is eight issues in a row with a “continuity” drawn by me in it. A personal best. I… READ MORE
December 15th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
In case you haven’t noticed, almost all the sketches (all but the Angela Lansbury) I’ve done of famous classic TV detectives over the last several months have one thing in common… they are all white guys. There were not very many women or persons of color playing detectives, private or otherwise, on TV shows that were really big hits back in the 60s-90s. I’m going to try and find a few of the exceptions in the next few weeks, and then I think it’s time to move on from the TV detective series. This week’s subjects are certainly a perfect fit as well-known classic TV sleuths…… READ MORE
December 7th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Who’s gonna drive the “Striped Tomato”? We don’t need Huggy Bear to inform us who our sketch subjects are this week. “Starsky and Hutch” ran for four seasons from 1975-1979 and the relationship between the Brooklyn born, streetwise Army veteran Starsky and the reserved and thoughtful Minnesota native Hutch who became police detective partners in the fictional town of Bay City, California became the template for future “buddy cop” shows and movies. It also made the Ford Grand Torino famous. READ MORE
December 5th, 2022 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Here we go with another pathetic peek back at my work for MAD Magazine. This week is a look at one of the more unique movie parodies I’ve done for MAD, “Green Lantern” from MAD #510, August 2011. written by Desmond Devlin. It was not unique because of the film, but because of a rare instance of the MAD editors cutting a gag of mine, some experimenting on my part with my process, and a bizarre request for a cameo. First, the MAD edit: This was my pencil rough for the splash page: The “finger” ring construct was my gag. It’s not very often the… READ MORE
November 30th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Dat’s the name of dat tune! We continue our series of classic TV detectives with Robert Blake (and “Fred”). The 1970’s TV cop drama “Baretta” followed the adventures of undercover detective Anthony “Tony” Baretta played Blake. The series was actually a sort of continuation of a 1973-74 TV show called “Toma”, which was based on real-life detective Dave Toma. Toma was a loner and maverick Newark, New Jersey detective who used disguises and often ignored conventional police procedure but gained national fame for his success as a cop. The show was cancelled after one season because the main star left. It was recasted and retooled somewhat… READ MORE
November 28th, 2022 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s another MAD Monday, which means it’s also time for another step on our long and excruciating wander through my work at MAD Magazine! This week we look at another TV parody, this time of the Emmy winning comedy “Modern Family”, written by Arnie Kogen and first appearing in MAD #509, June 2011. My very first job in published work was in 1990 for a comic book company called NOW Comics doing pencils for a title called “Married… with Children”, which was based on the popular FOX TV show. I did about 600 pages of that title and it’s related comic book specials, so I… READ MORE
November 24th, 2022 | Posted in General
Happy Thanksgiving for all those who celebrate it! It’s time for my annual posting of this turkey of a sketch, although I happened to find the original drawing in an old sketchbook recently so this is a fresh, higher-res scan. May your day be filled with friends, family, fun, laughs, and turkey… but not this guy. READ MORE
November 16th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Author Mickey Spillane‘s private eye character “Mike Hammer” debuted in the late 1940’s and became, along with Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, the epitome of the literary tough guy detective. The character brought fame and fortune to Spillane, selling over 200 million books and being featured in several radio programs and many films and TV shows. A lot of actors have portrayed Hammer over the years (including Spillane himself), but the most famous depiction might be that of Stacy Keach. Keach played Hammer in three different TV series and several TV movies in the 1980’s and 90’s. His version of Hammer was set in the 1980’s, although… READ MORE
