Tag: Al Jaffee

  • Al Jaffee’s Mad Life

    So I was browsing the bookstore last weekend and came across this book released last year.  It is Mary Lou Weisman’s biography of MAD Magazine illustrator/writer Al Jaffee.  Al illustrated the book.  I am amazed at his ability to do crowd scenes (something I avoid for good reason).

    Now for those who the name doesn’t register, anyone who has ever read a MAD Magazine is familiar with the Fold-In illustrations on the last page of almost every issue.  What is amazing is realizing that Al was able to do these fold-ins before being able to use a computer to line up the images and words.

    It is an incredible story of a boy who was born in the United States and dragged over to Lithuania TWICE by his homesick mother.  His father lost many a job and went broke trying to get his sons back and barely did so before Hitlers troops came to town.    One of my favorite quotes from Al is when he is describing the public baths.  In the shtetl he lived, his mother dragged him to the baths and spent the better part of the day covering his “privates.”  He complained so much that his mother found a gentlemen to take the boys in with the men.  Al said of the experience:

    Lots of men had what was called a killa, a form of rupture.  If you continue working at the jobs these people had to do – lifting logs and two-hundred-pound bundles into a drover’s care – little by little your intestines work their way down into your scrotum, eventually making it as big as a basketball.  No doctor in town could perform a hernia operation, so you’ve got these guys walking around with this basketball between their legs.  You can imagine how sickening that was for me.  I couldn’t look.  The rest of the package – the schlongs hanging down – wasn’t so inviting either.”

    No wonder at age 90 he still has a sick sense of MAD humor.  You can get the book at Amazon or many of your local bookstores.

  • Mad Magazine Review

    There has been some press about Mad Magazine going quarterly from a monthly publication due to lack of sales.

    Tom Richmond does a great job of explaining the perspective on the news from the point of view of a current illustrator for the magazine. He says many of the naysayers don’t understand the publishing industry or haven’t read it in a long time.

    Referencing the changes to the publishing industry are similar to that of the Television industry. The networks aren’t getting nearly the ratings they did in the 50’s-80’s merely because of the explosion of digital cable television and the internet. With so many more options for news/entertainment, the market has been fragmented.

    But being one who hasn’t picked up a Mad for several years and haven’t bought every copy since I was a kid, I purchase the most recent copy. (see the cover on Tom’s blog).

    Here is what I think:

    1. Overall…great stuff. Mad, Cracked and the daily newspaper comics helped me get excited about learning to read because there were a lot of sight gags that didn’t require much reading to figure it out. Now that I am an avid reader, the quick gags are still a favorite.

    2. Many lament the loss of the “old writers and illustrators”. I miss Dave Berg and Don Martin too but am glad to see Al Jaffee and Sergio Aragones are still active. But moving past the nostalgia, I don’t think the new illustrators/writers have lost anything (loved “When Adults Say”, “Mad word of…”, and “Monroe).

    3. For those who think it has become too political and esp anti-Bush. I can’t speak for much of the content during the Bush Admin but I hope overall the magazine doesn’t try to become political satire versus just satire. From this issue, sure there were Obama sections but it was spread throughout and didn’t seem overly abundant. It’s funny how you can find those on the Left and the Right talking up the current issue though.

    Unlike a Bill Maher, I think Mad has proven over the decades that its intent is to skewer all views and not just the one’s its individual writers agree with.

    4. For those who are upset about advertising. I don’t mind the ads because they fill up an entire page therefore not diluting the content of what I am trying to read and there were FOUR…count em FOUR paid ads in the entire magazine. Get over yourself.

    5. No parodies. Ok I know I am in the minority of those who were never big on the Parodies of Movies/TV but esp those I never saw, I couldn’t relate to the humor. (Plus typically too many words)

    What didn’t work for me:
    1. Spy versus Spy. Love the writing and drawing of the classic strip now done by Peter Kuper. Just not a big fan of the airbrushed coloring. I had to look closely at the page to realize that the colored print on the page simply hadn’t smudged from the printing press.

    2. An ad for Tatoo Removal. I mean who is the target audience for Mad. At first I was trying to tell if it was a classic spoof ad but realized it was real. Damn 12 year olds and their tattoo regret.

    3. What’s the difference feature. Not original enough to stay a Mad staple.

    4. Outtakes. This feature shows actual photos from film/tv (in this case Twilight) and puts funny photo captions on them. Several of them were funny but don’t think you can replace the illustrators.

    5. I enjoy Sergio Aragones‘ Mad Marginals. The small sight gags in the margins of different pages. HOWEVER, I swear some of them I remember from 1982.