Happy 100th Al Jaffee!

The words “legendary” and “genius” get thrown around an awful lot these days, but if there is anyone in the world of cartooning to whom these words truly apply it would be the great Al Jaffee, who turns 100 years old today. MAD Magazine has had many artists work for them whose level of talent and skill have been off the charts: Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Sergio Aragonés, Don Martin… the list keeps on going and going. Some were incredible visual artists like Drucker, Wood, Elder, and Davis, some were unique combinations of written and visual humor like Kurtzman, Sergio, and Martin. However for pure inventiveness, versatility, originality, and sheer, humor genius, Al Jaffee might be the best of them all. Sergio is, in my humble opinion, the only person who would challenge Jaffee for that title.

When it comes to MAD, Al is the undisputed heavyweight champion. He’s had work in more issues than any other artist or writer. He’s the only member of “The Usual Gang of Idiots” to appear in over 500 issues (509). He had contributed over 70 features over almost 10 years as a writer before he did his first “Fold-In”, which would become both his signature feature and an icon of cartooning. Al would do a Fold-In for nearly every issue of MAD for over 56 years. Al will tell you the Fold-In was a concept he came up with as the opposite of Playboy’s centerfold, which folded out and contained naked women, which his Fold-In (usually) did not. That kind of original, outside-the-box thinking is exactly what Al is all about. And of course the Fold-In is only part of what Al contributed to the magazine over the years… his “inventions” features, “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions”, and countless other articles from single page gags to multiple page features on every subject you can think of showed how versatile and seemingly bottomless his humor reservoir is. He’s been MAD‘s premier problem-solving, thinking man’s cartoonist for an astounding 65 years.

Al was also known for his razor sharp and quick wit in person. For example- I was part of a group of the Usual Gang of Idiots attending a MAD event at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011, at which Al was also present. I have to mention, as it’s pertinent, that at the time I was in a heavy mass-building phase in my workouts and I was particularly big and muscular. The whole group was having lunch and Al’s delightful wife Joyce, quite a cut-up herself, was commenting on my physique. She looks at Al, points to me and says “Why don’t you have arms like that?”

Al, without missing a beat, looks at her and says in his impossibly deep voice, “I’m too cheap to buy new clothes.”

It was several minutes before anyone at the table was able to stop laughing. Al was a spry 90 at the time.

Back in 2016 The Lovely Anna and I were lucky to be able to attend a special event in celebration of the great Al’s 95th birthday at Sardi’s in New York City. Hosted by DC Entertainment, a crowd of Al’s family, friends and colleagues congratulated Al on seven decades (and going) of work as a cartoonist and on 95 years on the planet. The evening included some big surprises, including Al’s induction into the Guinness Book of World Records for “Longest Continuous Career in Comics” and a NYC Mayoral Proclamation.

This pandemic has messed up a lot of things, but not being able to be in NYC today for what would have been an appropriately wonderful get-together to celebrate Al’s 100th birthday is one of the biggest disappointments for me. Fortunately some of Al’s longtime pals have planned what they could around the COVID-19 precautions to make this day as special as possible for Al. MAD man Sam Viviano (who is also celebrating a birthday today… HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!) set up a P.O. Box for anyone and everyone to mail birthday cards and wishes to Al, and Sam is going to deliver them today. Here’s my contribution:

I took the inked original for the digitally colored spot illustration of Al I did for MAD #14 and watercolored it, then sent that to Al via Sam. I’d have sent a card but like Al I’m too cheap to buy one. Former MAD editor Joe Raolia collected birthday wish videos from some of the Usual Gang of Idiots, and has put together a video for Al. I don’t think that will ever be released publically, but as you can imagine it’s funny as hell. There’s going to be an online panel celebrating Al tonight on ComixPlex. Al should be plenty busy on his birthday… hopefully he finds time for a nap.

All this is just to say that Al Jaffee is one of those rare talents that really is deserving of the title “legend”. He’s influenced multiple generations of cartoonists and made millions and millions of people laugh over the course of a seven-plus decade career. He’s important to a lot of people, including me!

Happy birthday, Al!