Like I've mentioned before, I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the jokes Mad puts out nowadays--sure, some of it is purely juvenile and just makes me roll my eyes, but they do include some more thoughtful stuff that probably aims at just above their demographic, like this political stuff:
...sure, it's not exactly The Daily Show, but I give Mad credit for doing stuff like this at all. Plus, the Obama thing is referencing something probably a lot of their readers have never seen. When they come across it later in life, they can say "Hey, I remember I saw that in Mad!"
There's a fun segment called "Are You a Celebrity or a Celebutard?", a joke about Amish people (they don't care whose toes they step on!), "Mad's International Preview of the Beijing Olympics" (complete with jokes about political prisoners), and then a classic, Mad-style movie parody:
There's a fun segment called "Are You a Celebrity or a Celebutard?", a joke about Amish people (they don't care whose toes they step on!), "Mad's International Preview of the Beijing Olympics" (complete with jokes about political prisoners), and then a classic, Mad-style movie parody:
...this is a splash-page after my own heart. You've got Tony Stark, Bush, Halliburton, Lyndie England, Osama Bin Laden, and gas jokes all crammed into this tiny space. Nice job, artist Tom Richmond!
This parody also features appearances by The Thing, Batman, Peabody and Sherman, even Wall•E! A great parody.
After "10 Ways to Beat High Gas Prices", we have another segment of Peter Kuper's "Spy vs. Spy", this time taking place at the San Diego Comic-Con:
This parody also features appearances by The Thing, Batman, Peabody and Sherman, even Wall•E! A great parody.
After "10 Ways to Beat High Gas Prices", we have another segment of Peter Kuper's "Spy vs. Spy", this time taking place at the San Diego Comic-Con:
...this will probably be the closest we'll ever get to seeing Peter Kuper draw Batman, the Hulk, or Conan.
There's movie poster parodies, "Hancock Outtakes", a really clever mash-up called "Calvin and Jobs", featuring Bill Watterson's creation and the head of Apple, "A Field Guide to America's Most Incompetent Summer Camp Counselors", and then the one, the only Sergio Aragones taking a look at super-heroes:
There's movie poster parodies, "Hancock Outtakes", a really clever mash-up called "Calvin and Jobs", featuring Bill Watterson's creation and the head of Apple, "A Field Guide to America's Most Incompetent Summer Camp Counselors", and then the one, the only Sergio Aragones taking a look at super-heroes:
Next is "Sucker City", a four-page parody of those junk mail ads you get that is so visually spot on that the first time through the magazine, I skipped over it because I thought it actually was an ad for Circuit City!
There's a collection of strips called "The Strip Club" (featuring "Fantabulaman" by Ted Rall), and then the issue ends, as all Mads must, with the Mad Fold-In:
There's a collection of strips called "The Strip Club" (featuring "Fantabulaman" by Ted Rall), and then the issue ends, as all Mads must, with the Mad Fold-In:
...the joke is weak, but that's ok. Like with Peter Kuper, I enjoy the sight of seeing Superman, Batman, et al, drawn by Al Jaffee.
Mad is in pretty good hands, I have to say. Early teens looking for some edgy humor are well served by the old stand-by. I think W.M. Gaines would be pretty happy.
Mad is in pretty good hands, I have to say. Early teens looking for some edgy humor are well served by the old stand-by. I think W.M. Gaines would be pretty happy.
2 comments:
Personally, while the fold-in this time is pretty clever, I think William M. Gaines (and any other of the MAD founders - Kurtzman?) would be ROLLING IN THEIR GRAVES over the state of the magazine. After all, advertising, thinly disguised as "content" is exactly what MAD has always been AGAINST.
Bring back the AD-FREE MAD.
I'm in this issue, too!
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