If you recognize this one of the late Leslie Nielsen from my book The Mad Art of Caricature that’s because it’s in that book. I did do a new sketch for this week but subscribers to my “The Ink Stained Wretch” weekly newsletter see it first. I’m posting throwback SotWs for the next two weeks, and then the sketches I debuted for subscribers will get posted here. So subscribe, already! READ MORE
It’s Monday… AGAIN?!? Seems like this happens every single week! Well, it’s once again time for another pulse-pounding episode in our chronological crawl through my work at MAD Magazine. Today we take a look at MAD’s spoof of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, written by MAD’s MADdest Writer Dick Debartolo and first appearing in MAD 460, December 2005. I remember this splash page being a very tough one to “solve”, meaning to figure out how to lay it out with the word boxes working with the characters speaking them all within a single environment. The show always begins with the designers and contractors in their big… READ MORE
Q: Why the switch to a newsletter from your blog? I’ve made your blog a daily stop for a long time, and while I’ve subscribed to your newsletter I’ll miss visiting here to see what you’ve posted today. There’s a kind of cool connection knowing you’ve posted THAT DAY, rather than reading a newsletter you probably put together over a few days. It’s more of a personal connection, if you understand that. Anyway I’ll miss the blog. A: I addressed that pretty thoroughly (I think) in my announcement on Friday. The short version is I’m not reaching a growing audience via the blog or socials… READ MORE
This past June I very quietly celebrated the 15th anniversary of the start of “Tom’s Mad Blog”. By “very quietly” I mean I never acknowledged the milestone, nor even remembered it actually. This post is my 5,423th post. That’s a lot of posts. I started doing this back in the day as a way to scratch my “writing” itch, and to share what I do, how I do it, and my journey getting it done with anyone who would care to listen. Mission accomplished, I think. Fifteen years is a long time in the tech world. When I started this blog, MySpace was the dominant… READ MORE
I was flattered to be involved in this terrific documentary about the amazing Rube Goldberg, which was created by his filmmaker grandson Geoffrey George. It’s a short film but really shows you how incredibly multi-talented and diverse Rube was. He did so much more than the crazy machines he’s best known for. The documentary features my pals Al Jaffee, Ed Steckley, Charlie Kochman, and Robin Schwartzman among others, and it’s free to view for a limited time as part of a “Twin Cities Virtual Jewish Film Festival”. Just visit this link and click the “Unlock for Free” button. You will need to register but it’s… READ MORE
This week’s SotW is a return to my “Classic Rock” series with a caricature of the original lead singer of AC/DC, Bon Scott! (yes, I know AC/DC had at least one lead singer before Bon, but Bon was on their first album “High Voltage”… so there!) I was a big metalhead in high school. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath… those were the type of bands I listen to. AC/DC was another big one, and while Brian Johnson was the lead singer about the time I got into the band, earlier albums featuring Bon Scott are still some of my favorite AC/DC disks. Scott died… READ MORE
If you missed the live stream of the National Cartoonists Society/NCSFest this past weekend, you missed a lot of informative, entertaining, and fun stuff. Or did you? Actually the entire two day event is available to see again on YouTube, including all the panels, interviews, pro tips and workflow demos, awards, and the epic “Battle of the Toons”. The Battle of the Toons was a “Survivor” like competition where cartoonists each make a case for a particular comics character as the best ever, and to be the stand one standing after the audience votes on who stays and who goes. This was conducted live from… READ MORE
Looks like it’s Monday AGAIN, so time for another naustiating look back at my work for MAD Magazine! This week’s episode is a holly, jolly look at the holiday follies that were the December movies of 2005. “MAD’s Inside Scoop on This Year’s Stupidest Holiday Movies” was written by Desmond Devlin and Scott Maiko, and first appeared in MAD #459, Nov 2005. The opening page with the “King Kong” movie gags was just reprinted in MAD #20 a few months ago. I recently read that “King Kong” star Adrian Brody turned down a role he was offered in “The Lord of the Rings” which he… READ MORE
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