MADness #79: Bo Book!

WOOF ARF WOOF WOOF ARF! *

*Translation: It’s Monday already??

Yes it is, and that means another barking mad episode of our look back at my work for MAD Magazine! We are now at the 6th issue of what would be my record of appearing in 71 consecutive issues of MAD… but frankly my appearance in MAD #501 (Oct 2009), was a bit of a cheat. The “article” my work was in was called “Excerpts from Bo Confidential- The Secret Files of America’s First Dog“, and was basically a three page advertisement for the book I did with the MAD staff just a few months earlier. That book job nearly killed me. Not only was it my first book with MAD, but it was also one of the toughest deadlines I was ever challenged with.

Bo was the first pet the Obama’s brought into the White House. He was a 6 month old Portuguese Water Dog, and he got a LOT of media attention. Naturally the folks at MAD thought that was ridiculous, so they quickly wrote a short book and it was rushed to press… and I mean RUSHED. Bo moved into the White House on April 14th of 2009. The final script and layouts for this 96 page book was sent to me on April 30th, calling for 56 total illustrations (a mix of two page full color spreads, one pagers full color, vignette spot illustrations in both color and black and white) plus a cover. The deadline? Three weeks.

THREE. WEEKS.

If I’m not mistaken the reason for the super short production was in order to make the book part of some major book fair or something like that, or it was to beat some other Bo related books that were also being rushed into print. I can’t remember… it’s all very hazy.

I nailed the deadline, but I didn’t sleep much and I still run away screaming if I see any Portuguese Water Dogs.

The book is small, only 5 x 7.25 inches, so the art did not need to be highly detailed. Otherwise I would never have been able to do it. I’d also be lying if I said it was my best work… but some of them turned out good. Here’s a selection of some of my favorites from the book:

I’d tell you to go buy a copy but it’s been out of print for a long time. I only have one copy myself. I don’t think it was a big seller. I’m still waiting for my first royalty check 13 years later. Might be a long wait.

That’s it for another dog-gone disappointed look at my work for MAD. Toon in next week when we take a look at another “The MAD 20 Dumbest People, Events and Thing of…” piece featuring… beer!