Sunday Mailbag- Parodies Outside MAD?

Q: I have to admit that I am a little disappointed because I thought that just maybe Mad would have done a satire of the movie “Gravity”.¬¨‚Ć The movie was a big hit and quite notable (notable enough to warrant a Sergio Aragones piece in #526) and certainly worthy of the satirical minds at Mad to shred to pieces.¬¨‚Ć A miss on the magazine’s part, I felt.¬¨‚Ć And that got me wondering.¬¨‚Ć Have you ever considered simply doing your own satire of a movie or TV show that Mad ignored to satisfy your own wish to see that movie or TV show skewered?¬¨‚Ć Nothing like a seven page endeavor, of course, but maybe a one or two page spread that you’d basically keep as your own private property?

A: Regarding “Gravity”, I actually asked the guys at MAD if that one was in the pipeline. They said it was being considered, but they decided not to do it. There were probably several reasons but I suspect the chief two were that Sergio was doing his “MAD Look at Gravity” and that the film was basically one person floating around in a series of space vehicles, so not much visual fun. Plus they said I suck at drawing Sandra Bullock. The timing of the movie in relation to the release of the magazine was probably a factor. Anyway, it wasn’t to be. A lot of really worthy movies don’t get the MAD treatment because of various reasons, not the least of which there are only six issues a year to go around.

As to doing them on my own, I actually had thought about that at one point… kind of a MAD web comic that I could eventually collect in a book or something. Then I remembered how much %$#%& work these things are, and came to my senses. Seriously it would be fun to do and I think I could write well enough to pull off some short ones, but I just don’t have the time to do that.

Thanks to Art 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!