MADness #16: Small/Large Market Teams!

We continue our Monday MADness chronological crawl through my work for MAD with a look at my 16th appearance in the magazine. This was another “sports” (specifically baseball) related piece written by Scott Lieberman for MAD #421, Sept 2002. It’s also the third (and last) feature I did in black and white for the magazine until the “retro” spoof I did of “Bounty Law” from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” just a few years ago.

I have to say I am embarrassed by that first panel. This might have been done 20 years ago and racial stereotyping was something no one was very conscious of at the time, but 2020 Tom wouldn’t draw that chinese guy looking like Mickey Rooney‘s “Mr. Yunioshi” from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I know Rooney’s character was supposed to be Japanese in that movie, but it’s the worst example of that I can think of. If you want to moan over the world becoming too “woke” and PC these days, be my guest. But the fact is that gag did not need the stereotype asian man visual to work. In fact it would have been funnier if I’d exaggerated the guy as being really skinny and unathletic instead. That would have “sold the gag” better. Apologies to all asian people everywhere.

I mentioned last week that I had been in seven consecutive issues (412-418) before missing two issues in a row prior to this piece. That’s because I did something in April of 2002 I never did again in the two decades I worked for MAD… I turned down an assignment.

I got a call from MAD art director Sam Viviano just after I’d finished doing the art for “Spider-Sham” for #418, asking me to do the art on another movie parody… “Panic Room” starring Jodie Foster. Unfortunately when I got that call I was literally on the road, driving a huge UHaul truck full of caricature, airbrush, and temporary tattoo equipment from Minnesota to Massachusetts where I was planning on spending over two weeks setting up a brand new art concession business at Six Flags New England in a little town called Agawam, right on the Massachusetts/Connecticut border. When told what the deadline would be and knowing it would be about three weeks before I could even start on it, I reluctantly had to tell Sam I was unavailable.

Sam told me when I turned him down not to worry, they understood and I’d be getting another job soon… but I worried. It seemed like a long two months before I got another assignment. This one, in fact.

BTW that “Panic Room” parody was written by Dick DeBartolo, drawn by Ray Alma, and appeared in MAD #419, and looked terrific.