Tom's Mad Blog
April 13th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Hey everybody! I have some art in the latest issue of MAD Magazine!!! For realz! I just cancelled my application to replace the license plates on my car as these are current again for now: MAD #19 drops today and the above two pager contains some new art from me, written by Benjamin Le Clear. It’s still largely a reprint piece with the different Al Jaffee clairvoyant inventions, but new stuff is new stuff! BTW I hand lettered the title and the birthday wishes for Al in the bottom right, as art director Suzy Hutchinson wanted an old school look to go with Mr. Original… READ MORE
April 12th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The next stop on our MADdeningly slow chronological slog through my MAD work is a look at my 21st piece in the magazine, “MAD Sizes Up the 2003 Oscars: Best Picture” from MAD #428, April 2003. The writing is credited to Greg Leitman, Barry Liebmann, David Shayne and Mike Snider. The Alfred “Oscar” statue is by Harry North, ESQ. MAD #428 had two other of these “”MAD Sizes Up the 2003 Oscars” features, all written by the same crew. “Best Actor” had art by Drew Friedman, and “Best Actress” had art by Rick Tulka. As it happens, we are finally reaching the point where I… READ MORE
April 11th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Welp, it’s been a while since I’ve had an empty mailbag but here it is. After 659 answered mailbag questions over the last (nearly) 15 years, perhaps this feature has run its course. If I get any questions I’ll answer them, otherwise I will start posting classic “mailbag” questions on Sundays. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here! READ MORE
April 9th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The Usual Idiots at MAD posted this sneak peek from MAD #19 on their Instagram yesterday, so I thought I’d share it here. It’s from a NEW piece of art I did for that issue… a two pager wishing Al Jaffee a happy birthday and tying in to their “MAD Predicts the Future” issue theme. The issue drops next week Tuesday, so I will share more of the art then. And yes, that’s also a nod to Johnny Carson‘s “Carnac the Magnificent”. READ MORE
April 8th, 2021 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
Back in the 80’s and 90’s I did a lot of airbrush work, including the occasional piece of clothing. I still have this Val Kilmer Batman I painted on the back of a motorcycle jacket around 1995 or so. READ MORE
April 7th, 2021 | Posted in General
No “Sketch o’the Week” today, or maybe for a while. Between work on CLAPTRAP, a freelance job that is a lot of work with a tight deadline, and all the artwork I still need to do for my “Virtual Artist’s Alley” event, I am swamped. Here’s one of the “Mock MAD Cover” commissions I did recently for a customer. Tombow brush pens and Copic markers on 9 x 12 bristol. READ MORE
April 6th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I was saddened to hear of the passing of MAD‘s “Poet Laureate”, longtime writer Frank Jacobs yesterday. He was 91. Frank is best known for his song parodies in MAD AKA “Sing to the Tune of…”, which became not just a trademark element of MAD’s repertoire of recurring features, but the focus of its most famous legal battle. Berlin v. E.C. Publications, Inc., 329 F.2d 541 (2d Cir. 1964), became a landmark case of copyright law. Irving Berlin (and a bunch of music publishers) sued MAD over the song parodies that were part of a paperback book entitled More Trash from Mad No. 4, claiming copyright infringement of the original… READ MORE
April 5th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We continue our inane and pointless wandering through my appearances in MAD Magazine with my 20th contribution, a return to the world of sports with “MAD‘S Proposed Rule Changes for the Upcoming NASCAR Season”, written by my CLAPTRAP cohort Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #427, March 2003. This piece was unique in that I was told to draw a caricature of someone in it that was part of an advertising/promotional campaign. Back in 2002 DC/Warner Bros/MAD started a promotional campaign with the South Beach Beverage Co. aka “SoBe”. SoBe was producing a new chocolate flavored energy drink called “Love Bus Brew”, and for some… READ MORE
