A couple of questions re: MAD MAGAZINE

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1. Surely it is a common shared experience of my generation to have read the Mad parodies of movies that they weren't old enough to see at the time that they were of the age of children that read Mad, and then later in adulthood to see the movie and know all of the major plot points already because of the never-fading memory of the Mad Magazine parody of said movie? The movies I'm thinking of here are "Altered State" and "Dog Day Afternoon," though there are plenty more I'm sure.

2. Has anyone read Mad Magazine lately? Does it totally suck now?

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

Hahah, the Altered States parody. "You know, whenever I make love to a woman..."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

"One Cuckoo Flew Over The Rest"

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

MAD does suck now, and has done for a number of years, but it's golden age (the 60's & 70's) is still great.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

Surely it is a common shared experience of my generation to have read the Mad parodies of movies that they weren't old enough to see at the time that they were of the age of children that read Mad, and then later in adulthood to see the movie and know all of the major plot points already because of the never-fading memory of the Mad Magazine parody of said movie?

This used to happen to me all of the time. As a kid my parents would never take me and my sister to see many movies, so a lot of movies I ended up experiencing through read Mad.

The last time I read Mad was probably about 10 years ago, it seemed kind of weak.

― O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

Don Martin, Dave Berg, Sergio Argones, the "Spy Vs.Spy" guy.....these guys were gods to me.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

Spy vs. Spy guy -- Prohias, o' course. There's a full collection of the comics out there, a triumph of the one-joke approach all around.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

My favorites always had "Blecch!" in the title, like "Star Bleccch!"

I liked how J. Lethem namechecked Don Martin's Fonebone in Motherless Brooklyn.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

Who was the artist responsible for the fold-up back covers?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

Al Jaffee

I'm going to buy the next Mad Magazine I see and report back.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

One time in grade school somebody was passing around a volume of "Al Jaffee's Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions" and got pissed off when I added my own snappy answers in the spaces provided for such.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

I seem to remember Al Jaffee having a penchant for drawing dog turds.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Why did MAD Magazine Get So Blecched Out?

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha ha!
YES.

xpost

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

The first issue of Mad I ever bought had parodied The Exorcist (new title The "Ecchorcist")... The movie was everywhere in the news because of people in the audience supposedly throwing up and I just happened to see this cover...

http://www.bagophily.com/images/Mad3.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

Spy vs. Spy was of course the best, with Dave Berg's "The Lighter Side Of..." being second.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Roger Kaputnick to thread!

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://pages.prodigy.net/rique/MAD-ACO-01.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

Actually I used to get confused- was the guy with the salt-and-pepper-hair and the glasses and pipe in "The Lighter Side Of..." called Roger Kaputnick or was that Dave Berg himself?

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Nick, I think you should start calling yourself Nicch and Huk should switch to Hucch.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/letter159.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

two things to thread:
1. skizziks
2. potrzebie

― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

Roger Kaputnick or was that Dave Berg himself?

Kaputnick was Dave Berg's alter-ego. Supposedly Berg drew other members of his family in it too.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

Also, if you fold-in the original post:


1. Surelye time
that they because
of the nev
Afternoon2. Has any
-- n/a (nuh
― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

oops, sorry.

― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

A couple more things to thread:

1. The Mad Zeppelin
2. Arthur The Plant
3. Max Korn

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember the word "faggot" showing up that often in the back issues of Mad I had...

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 19 September 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

Ah, MAD. I lived for it back in the day. "Botch Casually and the Some Dunce Kid" will stick in my mind forever. And MAD is where I picked up the term "Yeech" (like Bleech!) which I use in posting here regularly and use in every day speaking as well.

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

There was a MAD SUPER SPECIAL that basically got me through an otherwise horrible fishing trip with my uncle when I was 11.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

I wish I could find the Kurtzman/Wood and Kurtzman/Elder stories from the first couple of years online. Especially "Starchie" and "Superduperman."

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

I think this is another case of "was better in MY DAY" when in fact maybe it was just YOU who were better in your day, and everything else is pretty much the same!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

When satire satirizes satire...

"Oh, Come On! I'm an Egg Seperator, for God's Sake!"

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Ah, the parody of "Hud"...

Not understanding the references was part of the allure.

― M. V. (M.V.), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

I learned what "alimony" is by reading Mad.

― Old School (sexyDancer), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

When satire satirizes satire...
Unfunny Satire (People It's Bad)

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

the Mad parodies of movies that they weren't old enough to see
In fact it often served as a poor man's version of being snuck into an R-rated movie.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

When Dick DeBartolo was up here recently, he brought up some copies of a recent issue, and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. It seems like they've gone on a mad (hahaha) binge of hiring semi-famous comic artists like P. Bagge and Peter Kuper to do the artwork for some of their pieces, which makes it more interesting than it used to be, for me anyhow.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

i enjoyed the parody of Chinatown from one of my uncle's early 70s issues stashed in his old room at my grandparents' house many years before i watched it.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

Evan Dorkin blogged about finally getting a piece accepted by Mad (last year?). I don't know how much he's done for them since.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

I think this is another case of "was better in MY DAY" when in fact maybe it was just YOU who were better in your day, and everything else is pretty much the same!

I think that may be the case. Kids today probably love it as much as ever.

― O'so Krispie (Ex Leon), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

Their spoof of Midnight Cowboy implied that Joe Buck came to New York because he was such a good kisser. I even remember panels of him flexing his lips. It was pretty confusing what they were parodying to me.

When I finally got around to watching the movie years later, I went "OHHHHHHH, I GET IT NOW....:"

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

the 1997 reboot had promise. It seemed like there was a deliberate effort to hire a new generation(P.Bagge, etc), as well as black artists too. Who was the guy who did my fave bit, "Myron & Jenkins"?

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha, I remember that one. "Midnight Wowboy." (xpost)

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

YES I remember the Midnight Cowboy one too, CLASSIC and CONFUSING.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

i still havent seen midnight cowboy or planet of the apes or easy rider or any of the rocky movies in their entirety or butch cassidy and the sundance kid or silence of the lambs or many, many others, but know them intimately through MAD

― jermaine (jnoble), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

Mad Super Summer Specials helped me survive thru several family trips in our camper.

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

I was in a camper too!
The issue that saved my summer had a Sergio Aragones "Marginal Humor" cover, so I basically spent a whole day just soaking in every single gag.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

that's another thing. when you went back 10 years later, you got a whole new slew of jokes that no 12 year old could ever comprehend...

not that they really did the whole double-audience writing that Looney Tunes or the Muppets did, but it was there...

― kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

I flick through Mad whenever I see it at the library and am always surprised at how good it often is. I don't think it's weak at all. How are its sales figures these days?

― robertw, Monday, 19 September 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

Hahah, the Altered States parody. "You know, whenever I make love to a woman..."
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), September 19th, 2005 8:47 AM.

Just affirning that Ned was insanely OTM at the top of the thread. I remember this better than I remember Altered States, and could probably sketch the panel if forced.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

Through the direct market (ie, comic stores) not good.

xpost

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

According to the latest figures from Diamond Comic Distributors, MAD was the 292nd best selling comic in August. However, that only accounts for comic shop sales, and I suspect Mad does most of its business in gas stations and grocery stores (those are where I used to buy mine, at least).

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 19 September 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

I learned a lot more about the Kennedy administration from my mom's old Mads than I did from middle school social studies classes.

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Monday, 19 September 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

I used to love those old paperback Mad collections. I think they were 60 cents- cheap!- as somebody said on the other thread.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 20:28 (twenty years ago)

I still have some of them. Much of it is, in fact, cack.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

As the Mad editors would be the first to admit.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

the altered states parody really disturbed me.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

i loved mad from ages 9-11. the first one i bought was the basic instinct/batman returns issue.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

i was reading through that "MAD parodies of comic strips" book the last time i was at the bookstore, and what struck me was how much more literary and high-falutin' the humor was back in the old days, like back in 1960 they had stuff like "what would DONALD DUCK be like...if it were written by PADDY CHEYEVSKY?" (the result was pretty funny, btw) whereas the newer stuff tended to be a lot more obvious and crass.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

I've got a whole box full of Mad's and Mad books. I looked up some prices on eBay, and well, they're not worth that much. However, I still can't force myself to get rid of them.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

I remember back in the late seventies when my buddy and I rode our bikes to the used book/sci-fi/comic store and tried to sell some old sixties-era Mad magazines he had got a hold of. The old liver-spotted goateed old bastard at the store grabbed one magazine, jabbed his finger at it and said- "You see that? It says 5 cents (I may have this number wrong). I'll give you a dollar for twenty of them." Ruined our day.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

i will always treasure the batman movie parody issue

― strng hlkngtn (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Growing up in Scotland, they were occasionally parodies of films or TV programmes that never actually made it over the Atlantic or were delayed by months so I only ever knew them through the Mad parodies. I think the "Rehash of the Jedi" came out in Mad about 4 month before the film was released in the UK.

And sometimes the British edition would replace them with alternative, British specific parodies. I remember one for the Young Ones called the Young Bums, I think. It was actually pretty funny.

― everything, Monday, 19 September 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

have there ever been any good US humor magazines besides MAD? i've never read national lampoon and cracked always seemed pretty terrible.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

I know it's a UK mag, but I must say, I never got Viz at all.

― Bombed Out and Depleted / Kate (papa november), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:40 (twenty years ago)

Cracked had the almighty John Severin drawing for it, so it wasn't a total loss. In the 1970s, National Lampoon was the funniest thing on two wheels, but also one of the most brutal and crass (at least three prominent text pieces I can recall involved the hilarious comedic elements of rape).

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

Cracked sucks. Poor man's Mad.

― pr00de, where's my car? (pr00de), Monday, 19 September 2005 23:40 (twenty years ago)

Homeless man's Mad, even.

― pr00de, where's my car? (pr00de), Monday, 19 September 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

yeah, cracked was prrrrrrty bad.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 00:05 (twenty years ago)

1. yes!! namely, witness (im guessing mad called it 'witless'), psycho, and batman, of the ones i can remember! even to this day i see movies that i vaguely remember the mad parodies of. i was a subscriber and i made a BOX to put my mads in, it was very beautiful. i recently gave the box with all the mads in it to my cousin tho.

2.no. but does anyone else remember the mad magazine parody of family matters, and carl's name ws changed to CARD. that really bothered me

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 00:20 (twenty years ago)

YES I remember the Midnight Cowboy one too, CLASSIC and CONFUSING.

"Gee, I can't stop thinking about them pickled lemons."

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 01:35 (twenty years ago)

My main problem with the new ones is that the slick paper is less suitable for lining birdcages with.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 03:46 (twenty years ago)

Among the parodies I hazily remember in the first few issues of Mad I bought: A Different World, Ishtar, Roseanne (Grossanne, natch), and St. Elsewhere (St. Health-Scare). Much of it I liked for the same reason I liked stand-up comics who did impressions.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 04:57 (twenty years ago)

I never subscribed, but I bought every issue on the newstand for about two years straight, from roughly 1989-91.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 04:59 (twenty years ago)

"yeah, cracked was prrrrrrty bad."

As someone who grew up reading Mad, The National Lampoon, Cracked, Crazy, & Sick, I can safely say that they ALL helped to make me the idiot I am today. But, yeah, nothing compares to Mad.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

So I finally found an issue yesterday. It has The Family Guy/Simpsons on the cover. It's far racier than I remember it. Slick paper, wtf? Ads, wtf?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 23 September 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

They're totally harsh on Family Guy, skewering it in TWO features! One, where they merely point out the most blatant Simpsons rips...Trading Spouses-style! Two, where they beat it in to submission by accusing it of ripping of EVERYTHING EVER.
The Fold-In is awesome though.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

"cattlecar galaxica"

I used to love it when I was a kid, I haven't thought about it in years, though.

― Pacchmina (Pashmina), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

Someone gave me a copy of the hardcover reissue of the first six issues.
They're amazing, and it was a nice present, because I would have never
ever ever shelled out the $50 to buy it myself.

― shieldforyoureyes, Friday, 23 September 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

How long was Plop! around, anyway?

― Stephen X (Stephen X), Friday, 23 September 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

Something miniscule like three issues, it was one of the victims of the DC Implosion

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 24 September 2005 07:40 (twenty years ago)

i stumbled on some mid-90s reprints of the first six issues the other week - full-color and everything. now i'm glad i didn't pay the $50 for the dc archives edition (especially as it looks like they're not gonna do any more of em).

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 24 September 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

DC reprinted the entire colour run in six magazines in the '90s, if that's what you mean - but it's the full 20-something issues, not just the first six comics.

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 24 September 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

plop lasted well over twenty issues

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Saturday, 24 September 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

Plop! freaked me the fuck out as a kid - the frog legs story actually kept me awake at night!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 24 September 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone know if Broderbund's "Totally Mad" CD-ROM set is Macintosh-compatible?

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 24 September 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

plop lasted well over twenty issues

whoops sorry, I wasn't born etc etc.

― kit brash (kit brash), Sunday, 25 September 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

rock: i've got that, let me grab one of the cds and see.

*fifteen seconds later*

doesn't look like it.

"SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: to run this program properly you should have a computer. (Our technical research shows that a working one is preferred.) Your computer should also have one of those little slide-out "snack trays". Take the snack out and put in one of the small round CD-ROM things that are in this pacakge. OTHER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ARE: Windows 95/95 CD-ROM (Windows with curtains and blinds are optional.)"

― jermaine (jnoble), Sunday, 25 September 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

Bummer. Thanks for checking.

I'm tempted to get one of these sets anyway if I come across it cheap. It looks like it's holding its resale value pretty well, I might get some Windows emulator software someday, and if I have a pressing need, I can borrow my bro-in-law's laptop PC.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 25 September 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Isn't it just a bunch of PDFs? It couldn't be that hard to extract them, somehow

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 25 September 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

I was thinking that, too. If they're PDFs, then it's a piece of cake. If they're JPGs, I could probably turn them into .cbr files.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 25 September 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

i almost started a new thread based around the first point in the OP. dodged a bullet.

― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 19:57 (thirteen years ago)

Ha. Assume this was inspired by my mention of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers parody in the horror poll thread. Yeah, there's a whole slew of movies that are virtually inseparable from their attendant Mad parodies in my mind. I always think of Damnyouson in connection with The Karate Kid, f'rinstance.

― Quiet Desperation, LLC (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 20:05 (thirteen years ago)

"Are you smiling?"

"No, it's just gas."

They must have used that joke about a dozen times in the years I read Mad.

Add their "Being There" parody to movies I learned about from Mad.

I also worshipped Mort Drucker.

― SongOfSam, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 20:25 (thirteen years ago)

i wld like to apologise to (sic) for chastising him over his correct estimation of the number of issues of dc's plop

this is a nice volume, lotsa gd drucker (and angelo torres doing drucker):
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gTka0I9Xl-8/SkUMRbbbOMI/AAAAAAAABkU/LQ8RFZrPwpI/s400/madabout.jpg

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 22 May 2012 20:36 (thirteen years ago)

Yeah, there's a whole slew of movies that are virtually inseparable from their attendant Mad parodies in my mind. I always think of Damnyouson in connection with The Karate Kid, f'rinstance.

so much of my cultural literacy concerning seventies films and tv shows is from poring over my older brothers' mad magazines.

also just general cultural concepts: encounter groups, the "generation gap", "women's lib", etc... which i can only guess led to me winding up with a bizarrely distorted version of much of that stuff, seeing as i was reading about and trying to grok adult concepts through a 10-year-old's or < mind material which involved already dated attempts at skewering topics of the day... mostly written by middle-aged dudes for a satirical magazine that i'm guessing was confused about its own demographic at the time

kinda like how i was also only familiar with bogart or peter lorre and buncha other stuff solely due to old warner bros. cartoons

― dell (del), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 22:18 (thirteen years ago)

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