Sunday Mailbag: Depicting MAD’s Alfred?

Q: You’ve mentioned that there are strict rules in regards to the depiction of Alfred on the cover of MAD, insomuch he can’t be depicted side on, or with certain expressions. How come the Australian version of MAD has been able to get away with various artists drawing his face from different angles, and with various expressions on his face? Are non-US MAD magazines allowed more leeway in regards to MAD‘s mascot?

A: Apparently they are, given some of the examples you sent me, including this one:

By the way, if anyone is interested in seeing a lot of examples of the covers of foreign editions of MAD, visit this website. You’ll see a lot of pretty weird looking Alfreds, although many of these used the American cover art, especially the early ones.

I know I was told very early on in my working with MAD that when drawing Alfred I should quite simply stick to the official Norman Mingo portrait of him from the cover of MAD #30:

I was also told that any other angle but a full face shot like the one above, or a complete back-of-the-head shot was a no-no. I sometimes worked Alfred into sight gags in some of my parodies, but you had to be careful about what you had him doing. He either had to just be standing there as a non-sequitur cameo or he had to be doing something “Alfred”, meaning dumb but not malicious.

Other expressions besides the usual idiot grin were okay within the context of a scene or narrative. There are some examples of that in the U.S. MAD. It was rare and really needed to serve a purpose, however. And of course it had to still be in “Alfred” character. There have also been many Alfred “morphs” where he is depicted in different styles or as different creatures. These you sent me are examples of that:

Many of the foreign edition covers featured depictions of Alfred that were odd looking at best and flat out “off model” at worst, so clearly there was not a lot of oversight from the U.S. staff. Frankly I’m surprised to see something as radical as that profile cover seen at the top of this post, however. I would have thought MAD would have been a little more careful with Alfred and the covers of the foreign editions, but I guess they let them have a lot of freedom in that regard. Fun to see, actually.

My understanding was that the foreign editions of MAD licensed the name and a certain amount of the material from the U.S. MAD, and translated said material if necessary. Then they were free to create their own covers (although again some of them used the American covers) and content. I don’t know if any of it had to be approved by the NY staff prior to publication.

Thanks to Glenn Robinson for the question. If you have a question you want answered about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!