Monday MADness- MAD about the Sopranos!

It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since “The Sopranos” debuted on HBO. MAD did several pieces on the show, including a full parody by Arnie Kogen and Mort Drucker in MAD #389 (Jan 2000). I did the piece above in MAD #422 (Oct 2002) written by the late John Caldwell. Sopronos writer and Executive Producer Terrance Winter bought the original art of that from me, and talks about how cool it was to be in MAD in this article about the show’s 20th anniversary in Variety:

Winter: When we got into Mad Magazine, that was the highlight for me. That said everything. The artist did “A Mad Magazine Behind the Scenes look at ‘The Sopranos,’” and it was caricatures of the entire cast and David. And I had every actor and David sign it for me, and I’ve got that hanging in my office.

Variety, Jan 10, 2019

That exchange led to one of my favorite pieces hanging the studio. I sent Terrance a couple dozen prints of the final art along with one for me, and later it was returned with signatures from the entire cast:

but James Gandlofini’s signature was, I thought, the best and most appropriate: