Sunday Mailbag: Inside Scoop on next MAD?

Q: Aside from whatever contributions you make to an issue of Mad Magazine, to what other contents in the magazine are you privy before it hits the newsstands?  Do you get to see artwork for the cover or are you told about random articles in the upcoming issues, or are you as much in the dark as any regular Mad Magazine reader whose only contribution is the $5.99 (cheap!) we cough up every two months?

A: Other than my piece, I get to see none of it. If I happen to be in town and drop into the offices, and the staff has an advanced copy of the next issue, they’ll show it to me but mostly just so I can see what my piece looks like in print. I have a couple of buddies like Ed Steckley and Jason Chatfield that are starting to do some regular work for the magazine, and they might send me a peek at what they did or are working on, but beyond that the editorial staff does not share the contents with freelancers nor send out advanced copies or PDFs. Every month I email Al Jaffee and ask him to send me a scan of the next Fold-in, and every month I get the same response: “Who are you again?” and then “Go out and pay for an issue like everyone else, ya shmuck!”

No, I get to enjoy most of the new issue just like any other reader does. Frankly I prefer it that way.

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