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| Copyright DC COMICS |
There are some people who think that FREDRIC WERTHAM's so-called 'anti-comics crusade' had an entirely negative effect on the comicbook industry way back when. However, to quote a line from a well-known song from the classic film, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!" - and MAD was most certainly that.
For its first 23 issues it was a comicbook, featuring lampoons of well-known comic strips, books, TV shows and movies, before switching to the magazine format that we all know and love today. So, for all the nostalgists amongst you, here's a look at the very first issue from 1952. We start with a JACK DAVIS drawn tale which is positively calculated to drive you - what's the word again? Ah, yes - MAD!(Don't say I didn't warn you.)
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6 comments:
Good one, never seen the first issue! Got loads of the collected paperbacks and a fair few issues from the 1960s, but the early comic-format will always be where it's "at" for MAD.
Even the MAD cash-in titles were great, stuff like Cracked, Get Lost and Bananas... All good fun.
MAD these days is hit-and-miss. The masses of adverts are the first obvious turn-off, but then they also have amazing stuff by Tom Bunk, Sergio Aragones, and still the odd bit of Spy Vs. Spy. It's a comic/magazine that I'll always have a special place for.
Thing about the ads, THB, is that it helps pay for the colour within the mag these days. It's still number one in a field of one, I reckon. Shame it doesn't sell more.
Ah, the great Jack Davis - does his art ever remind me of my school days!; cards, stickers and a particularly lurid purple book cover with ghastly creatures all over it. Loved it. The MAD I remember was full of Arogones' marginal cartoons, Don Martin's angular characters, Spy v Spy, the fold in picture and especially the art of Mort Drucker.
Ah, Phil - Mort Drucker - now you're talking.
"Number one in a field of one" sadly applies to a lot of comics now.
I know what you mean, but it doesn't so much apply to a 'lot of comics' as the only one of its kind left standing - The Beano. That truly is 'one in a field of one', sadly.
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