Here we go again with another ridiculous choice for one of the panels that was my favorite to draw in a given parody, this time from MAD #2’s “Xander and Kam’s Sneaky Previews” written by Ian Boothby. Anyday I get to draw Harrison Ford‘s crooked nose is a good day. Also ALF! READ MORE
Here’s another episode of “My Favorite Panel from MAD #…” where I post, you guessed it, my favorite panel from the job I did for that issue. I don’t count the big splash pages because they’d probably always get the nod. This one was from the parody of “Ready Player One” from MAD #3, written by Desmond Devlin. Des suggested the addition of “Leroy Jenkins”. I had decided the only way to parody a movie that is full of MAD-like pop-culture cameos already was to include characters that no one in a million years would actually choose as their avatar. Thus you have Strawberry Shortcake, a… READ MORE
Where did MAD‘s idiot boy mascot, the ageless Alfred E. Neuman, originate? That’s a question I get a lot, and one that has no certain answer, but a lot of interesting history. The image seen above is from the earliest known (so far) appearance of a character that contains all the most recognizable characteristics of Alfred: the frontal portrait angle, the wide and squat head shape, the pointy chin, the grin with missing teeth and round cheeks, the big ears, the freckles and tossled mop of hair. This is from a promotional poster for the 1894 play “The New Boy”, starring James T. Powers. It… READ MORE
I’m going to start posting a look at my favorite panel from my most recent MAD job, just for fun… and to give me something to post. In MAD #4 I did the art for a parody (kind of) of the “Svengoolie” TV show, a classic horror movie show where host Svengoolie plays a different old school horror flick and intersperses facts about the film and cast along with comedy bits throughout the movie. The show is on MeTV, which mainly shows reruns of old TV shows. The gag in the parody is that these reruns keep mashing up into the movie Svengoolie is showing,… READ MORE
Monday MADness becomes Tuesday MADness this week as I needed yesterday to conquer the last deadline that kept the blog so quiet last week. Done. Recovering. I did the art on this one page gag piece for MAD back in 2014 for their website, turnaround time 14 hours. That was rare thing back then, but a precursor to the new MAD website where they do quick turnaround gag cartoons all the time. MAD ended up printing this in issue #531. Here’s a look at the pencil (ok, DIGITAL) sketch: As you can see they made me change Obama’s face from the last panel. If I… READ MORE
Happy 73rd birthday to the most prolific and longest-running writer in MAD Magazine history, MAD‘s Maddest writer Dick DeBartolo! Dick’s work first appeared in MAD #69, March 1962 (a piece he sold to the magazine while he was still in high school), and he has had work in 469 issues and counting ever since. He also has the record for the most consecutive issues appeared in with 452 (#103 to present). Dick’s work outside of MAD includes being a long-time writer for TV games shows and a popular podcast called “The Daily Giz Wiz” formerly on TWiT TV and now independently produced , appearances on… READ MORE
Issue number four of the “new” MAD magazine just hit the stands this week. So how’s our beloved rag doing since its radical move to Burbank and a whole new editorial and art staff? I guess that depends on who you ask. Some really old school MAD aficionados are not too pleased with the new direction of the magazine. I’ve read comments about how this “isn’t MAD” and that certain articles don’t have the “MAD voice”. I’ve even seen the obligatory “Bill Gaines must be rolling in his grave” comments (that’s ridiculous… Bill was cremated, so at worst he’s billowing in his urn). Anytime you… READ MORE
For those of you who hated the MAD iPad app for getting the digital version of the magazine, good news! MAD is discontinuing the app and moving its digital subscriptions over to Magzter. Here are all the details: Q: What happened to my MAD in my MAD app? A: We have listened to our fans through tweets, emails, Facebook, and millions of two complaints via Google+ – the experience of reading issues on the MAD app left much to be desired. We want our fans who like to read the magazine digitally to have as enjoyable and effortless reading experience as those who read the… READ MORE
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