MAD About Mort!
Posting the little sneak peeks yesterday was fun, but here’s my full piece from MAD #15, which officially releases today. I both wrote and did the art for this… a first for me in MAD.
I mentioned yesterday that this may be my last piece for MAD. It’s probably not. I might get a cover job someday or they’ll have some new piece they want done for some reason down the road and I’ll get a call to do it. However this two pager IS the end of a twelve year, 71 consecutive issue run of a new piece of my art in MAD (tied for the 17th longest streak in MAD history, if you are interested). I have no assignment for issue #16, and with no new material on the horizon it may be a while before I get another call from them. This piece also marks the 142nd issue of MAD I’ve had work in, which puts me at number 30 in the all-time list of contributors to the magazine… I only needed 368 more issues to beat Al Jaffee for number one!
I cannot thank MAD Editor/Art Director/Empress Suzy Hutchinson enough for giving me this assignment, although I agonized over it and considered several approaches and concepts before coming up with this. I can’t think of a better way to wrap up a 20 year career of being one of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” than getting to pay tribute to the man who was not just one of my biggest inspirations artistically but literally encouraged me to send my art to the editors and pursue work with MAD in the first place. Full circle, as they say. My first piece in MAD was partly thanks to Mort Drucker, and in my last piece I was able to say thank you to him. Mort was a huge influence and inspiration to generations of cartoonists and caricaturists, and I was very fortunate to have also been able to call him friend for over 20 years.
As far as MAD goes, I also feel lucky to have been part of the magazine when it was still, arguably, the Bill Gaines‘ era MAD. Bill had been gone for eight years by the time I came onboard, but with Nick Meglin still editing along with John Ficarra, editors Charlie Kadau and Joe Raiola, and new art director (but longtime contributor) Sam Viviano in charge, it still had the heart and soul of the classic MAD. It was a privilege to get to be part of that, even if it didn’t last very long comparatively.
So, it’s on to new things. I will probably have another byline or two in MAD before they completely turn off the lights there, but they will certainly be few and far between if they happen. For 20 years I had a MAD piece to work on virtually every month. It will seem odd for a while not to have that on the board.
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Great piece, Tom!
Thank you for this. The strange times we’re going through hit me a little harder than usual this week, and I’ve been thinking, “Plan for the day: Stare at stuff.” This drawing makes me mournful, and it reminds me again how much I miss Mort Drucker, but somehow it’s goofy enough that it also gives me the strength to go out into the world.
From a statistical standpoint, hate to see the end of the streak and an issue without your art will be disconcerting. To be honest, when you first started at MAD, I thought it was too similar to Drucker, but you soon developed a style of your own and you quickly rose to be one of my favorite artists. A standout characteristic for me is your use of color…pure eye candy which I would turn to first with the arrival of each issue. Thanks for 20 years of laughs and look forward to many more via whatever outlet that may be!
The old MAD is not the current MAD. I’ve still got my memories. Mort’s art from the ’60s will always make me chuckle. Hoping thing’s turn around.
Great tribute to a great artist. I awaited MAD every month to see who was getting skewered by the gang. Your tribute covers what I feel we’re some of his greatest work. Thanks Tom for the kind words and picking up where Mort left off
Always love and admire your work. You did such a GREAT job on Mad about Mort! 👏 👏👏
Congrats man. Heck of a run for you. Heck of a tribute to Mort. Thanks for what you do!
I was surprised to get this issue earlier than expected (at least, it seemed that way, thought it was supposed to be out at the end of the month). You did a great job.
I do have to ask, you said something about turning out the lights…I assume that won’t be for a while? I remember when all the reports said Mad was ending, but then Mad itself encouraged me to re-subscribe and not to listen to such rumors…I recently extended by a couple years, keeping up my very long streak of being a Mad subscriber (measured in decades).
Hoping we see more work from you, and that Mad sticks around. I enjoyed “Batman and Rubin” in the current issue. Was hoping for a reprint of the C. Reeve “Superman” parodies as I don’t have those. I hope too Mad continues to bring back special issues at supermarket stands, especially with reprints of old television shows (all those networks like MeTV make me want to read satires of shows like “Welcome Back Kotter,” etc.).
I’ve seen many of the big name artists and writers of Mad leave us through retirement, job changes or passing away. Tom, you are one of the rare big names that I’ve actually seen start with Mad, and I do hope that this isn’t the true end for you with the magazine. I am one of the many who didn’t care for Mad’s change to color, but your incredible splash pages made me realize what color could really bring to the magazine.
I’m holding out for your return to this publication, as well as perhaps a return of movie and TV satires or, hopefully, a book release from you that will satisfy our parody cravings.
Thanks for your contributions to Mad to make sure that its essence stayed intact.