I thought for today I'd do a double post round-up of two current comic magazines, Mad and Simspons Classics.I've still not accepted Mad in color, but I guess that's just because I'm an old fuddy-duddy. The varying art styles seem to conflict more in color than they do in black and white, but I guess Mad has a tough enough time in the marketplace; being black and white is just a non-starter.
Included in this issue are "A Mad Look At Zombies" by Sergio Aragones, Spy vs Spy by Peter Kuper, "7 Periods Closer to Death" by Ted Rall, and of course the Mad Fold-In by Al Jaffee.
There's also a good portion of timely material, and it's actually not bad--there's "Idiotic Anti-Gun Control Arguments The NRA Hasn't Used--Yet" by Jacob Lambert and Kuper, "Amazing Facts About Jenna Bush's New Book"(#4--"The book, Ana's Story, A Journey of Hope, is widely expected to outsell Mary Cheney's memoir, A Father's Gentle Sneer"--actually made me laugh out loud), and best of all, a two-page feature called "Rejected Hillary Clinton Campaign Slogans" drawn by the great Paul Coker:
...the thing I liked about Mad's political stuff is that it's specific. Sure, they pick on both sides, which when a TV show does it normally means the same "Politicians are dishonest! Har! Har!" jokes applied to both sides.The jokes aimed at Bush and Hillary in this issue are specific to them, which means the Mad writers are at least paying attention, which is more than I can say for a lot of news networks! Bravo, Usual Gang of Idiots!
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As I said before when I reviewed Simpsons Classics #13, I'm not that huge a fan of the Simpsons comics, even though I love the show(and pretty much everything Matt Groening has been involved with).There's some missing ingredient to me that keeps me from laughing much, but I'm always willing to give them another shot, and I'm so delighted at Bongo's old-school aesthetic that the least I can do is shell out four bucks every three months to pick up the newest issue.
Stories in this issue include:
"Get Off The Bus!" by Rob Hammersley, Todd Greenwald, Phil Ortiz, and Tim Bavington--Sideshow Bob goes the Dennis Hopper route in a parody of Speed
the delightful one-page "The Unbearable Lightness of Barney"
the two-page "Diner Violations" starring Springfield's finest, Lou and Eddie
an ad for Krusty the Clown's Celebrity Psychic Hotline
"They Fixed Homer's Brain" by Doug Tuber, Tim Maile, Stephanie Gladden, Tim Harkins, and Bavington
and "Tales of the Briny Deep"(starring the Old Sea Captain) by Jamie Angell, Ortiz, and Bavington
...it's remarkable how similar in tone these comics are to the show; they work as perfectly companion pieces. For every lowbrow joker of Homer being hit by something, there's some esoteric or philosophical joke tossed in as well.
2 comments:
"There's some missing ingredient to me that keeps me from laughing much, but I'm always willing to give them another shot,..."
I know what you mean, and i get it from the Futurama books too. For me it's like the "rhythm" of the comics is different than the shows. I got the same feeling as a kid reading Bugs Bunny or other cartoon-based comics.
Hey! My first cartoon for MAD was published in this issue! (Product Placement in Horror Movies)
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