MAD Magazine
February 13th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I got this question via DM recently: Hi Tom, are issues #9 and #10 the last official MAD Magazine issues before things changed? MAD has undergone a LOT of changes in the last 3 years, and there has been a lot of confusion about things because their parent company hasn’t been very clear about what is happening, and certainly not about WHY things are happening. In response to this I put together a little timeline of the what and whens of recent changes to MAD: October 2013– DC Comics announces they are closing their New York offices and moving them to the Warner Bros complex in Burbank, CA. MAD‘s… READ MORE
February 8th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
MAD #415 contained my 12th job for the magazine, a spoof of the film “Behind Enemy Lines” starring Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson, written by Dick DeBartolo. The issue was dated March 2002, but the art was done in December of 2001. This was the first movie parody I drew that was written by Dick, and the script was both funny and pretty vicious! The only thing I remember about working on this one was having a really tough time drawing Gene Hackman, and looking back at it now I still don’t like many of the caricatures of him I did. Actually this is one… READ MORE
February 1st, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
My next assignment (number 11) for MAD was the art for a parody of the TV show “America’s Most Wanted”, a sort of reality show that featured re-enactments of crimes by known fugitives (played by actors on the show) and interviews with actual law enforcement involved in the investigations, all with narration by the show host John Walsh. There was a hotline number to call if you have seen or have any information helping to capture the fugitive being featured. The show claimed to have led to the capture of over 1000 fugitives in the 25 years it ran on Fox. This spoof was written… READ MORE
January 25th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We continue our Monday MADness chronological crawl through my work for MAD (henceforth titled “MADness #xx) with a look at my 10th appearance in the magazine. Remember the early 2000’s TV show “Boston Public”? Neither does anybody else. Although it was a critically acclaimed show at the time, particularly for its diverse cast. It was big enough that MAD did a spoof of it. Once again I teamed up with my CLAPTRAP partner Desmond Devlin to poke some fun at this show in MAD #412, January 2002. This parody was the first time I drew someone I knew into the art, something I would do… READ MORE
January 18th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We continue our Monday MADness chronological crawl through my work for MAD with a look at my ninth piece for the magazine, a two page article called “The Mysterious Mysteries of Televised Sports”, written by my CLAPTRAP cohort Desmond Devlin for MAD #412, Dec 2001. If you have been following along on Mondays, you may be noticing a trend here. Of the nine features I had so far illustrated for MAD, seven of them were written by Des. Some say it’s because no one else wanted to work on his lame scripts, but I suspect it’s because the guy was so prolific there was just a lot of… READ MORE
January 11th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
We continue our Monday MADness chronological crawl through my work for MAD with a look at my eighth appearance in the magazine, a parody of the 2001 film “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” subtly titled “Lotta Crotch: Bazoom Raider”, written by Desmond Devlin and appearing in MAD #410, Oct 2001. This movie was of course based on the popular video game, and starred a young Angelina Jolie in the title role. Her casting was criticized by video game fanboys mainly because they didn’t think she had big enough breasts to play the famously chesty Lara Croft. That is, of course, ridiculous considering this was a fictional… READ MORE
January 4th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Each Monday I’m doing an installment of a complete, chronological look at every job I did for MAD over my 20 year run for the magazine, complete with whatever stories, anecdotes, or milestones, might apply along with the full article. My next job for MAD was a seven pager called “MAD‘s 50 Worst Things About Sports” written by my CLAPTRAP cohort Desmond Devlin for MAD #408, Aug 2001. This piece was my longest so far for the magazine, and the second that was considered the “lead” feature… meaning the cover was a tease for this particular article. Of course I did not know that at… READ MORE
December 28th, 2020 | Posted in MAD Magazine
I’ve told some of this story before here, so forgive me if you’ve already heard it. While this feature posted today was my 6th appearance in MAD, it was actually the very FIRST piece I was ever assigned from them. “MAD‘s Cable TV Viewing Odds”, written by John Biederman, appeared in MAD #406, June 2001… almost a year after I originally turned in the job. So technically this was the very first job I ever got from MAD. It was assigned to me in early June of 2000. I was told it was originally slated for MAD #398, but I got a call from MAD art director Sam Viviano shortly after turning in… READ MORE
