Tom's Mad Blog
August 22nd, 2022 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We interrupt the usual self-deprecation and smartassery that permeates these posts to revisit a moment that was a major milestone for MAD Magazine, both is a positive and negative sense. April of 2009 saw the release of the 500th issue of MAD. That issue was the culmination of 57 years of idiocy, and the 500th issue was a tribute to the artists and writers who filled all those pages over the decades. No. 500 saw the return of many of the Usual Gang of Idiots who had not had anything in the magazine in years, albeit in cameo appearances. I did a spot illustration for… READ MORE
August 17th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
A week or so ago my pal Joey Paskevicius posted this picture he had found on Facebook of the amazing Giancarlo Esposito striking an awesome “Gus Fring” pose while holding a MAD sketchcover commission I had done featuring him a few years ago: I did that sketchcover during my first ever “virtual” artists alley event back in 2020 for a gentleman named Tim Dunakin. That’s Tim looking on in the background. Tim brought that cover sketch to a recent comic con to get Giancarlo to sign in, and this picture was taken by Giancarlo’s handlers and posted on Giancarlo’s facebook page. Not only is this… READ MORE
August 15th, 2022 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Wackjob’s Journal- April, 2009: Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. Movie dead at box office after promising opening weekend. Critics blasting it for being confusing and way too long. Fanboys hating on it for changing the ending… thank God Twitter still in its infancy. Worse, MAD Magazine did a parody of it in their 499th issue dated April 2009. The usual hatchet job by Devlin and Richmond. Going for some beans. Hurm. Yes… It’s yet another super hero movie parody.! The only thing I remember about this one was trying to come up with funny ways to not show Dr.… READ MORE
August 10th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
This is going to be the last of my “horror movie icons” sketches I think. The series has run its course and while there are many other horror movie greats worthy of being caricatured, it’s time to move on. I couldn’t end this any other way than to draw the legendary Lon Chaney in his signature role as Erik from the 1925 silent film “The Phantom of the Opera”. Chaney was famous for doing his own makeup, and the effect he achieved with the Phantom caused audience members to scream and faint during the famous “unmasking” scene. That may be one of the most horrifying moments in… READ MORE
August 3rd, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Original available in the Studio Store You knew this one was coming! I had to draw the late Nichelle Nichols this week after her passing a few days ago. I was never a huge “Trekkie” but I did enjoy the original series as well as “The Next Generation” and many of the films and other shows that came from the Star Trek universe. You can’t be a comic book geek like me and not appreciate how great Star Trek was. As “Lieutenant Nyota Uhura”, Nichelle Nichols was an integral and much beloved part of that universe. She broke ground as one of the first black… READ MORE
August 1st, 2022 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Fail to the Chief! It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for another look at another im-peach of a job I did for MAD! This week we look back at “MAD Exposes Who’s Thinking What at the Obama Inauguration”, which first appeared in MAD #498, February 2009. written by not one, not two, not three, not even four MAD writers, but FIVE! Desmond Devlin, Jeff Kruse, Jacob Lambert, Frank Santopadre and Dennis Snee. That’s right, it took five writers to write the 25 gags in this three page feature. That’s five gags each! I wonder if they got paid by the gag? I sure wish… READ MORE
July 29th, 2022 | Posted in News
The world lost another of the Usual Gang of Idiots recently with the passing of the wonderful Paul Coker Jr. on July 23rd at age 93. Paul was, at least in my opinion, a seriously underrated member of the UGOI. His work was elegant and beautifully drawn, and yet was as forcefully funny as anything else you saw in MAD. His “Horrifying Cliches” was a long running favorite feature in the magazine and what he is probably best known for, but he illustrated hundreds and hundreds of other features that showed the versatility of his unique style. Paul even did a number of TV and… READ MORE
July 27th, 2022 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
HEEEEEEERE’S JOHNNY! We continue our horror film series with Shelley Duvall in her iconic role as Wendy Torrence in Stanley Kubrick‘s masterpiece “The Shining”. I considered drawing Shelley as her character from an even scarier film, “Olive Oil” in “Popeye”, but went with her Wendy. Jokes aside, I think “Popeye” gets a bad rap. It’s actually a great film that just ran out of money and steam at the end. I consider “The Shining” the perfect example of how different film and books are as storytelling mediums. Stephen King, who wrote the novel that the film is based on, famously hates Kubrick’s movie. Despite being a HUGE fan of… READ MORE
