Thursday, February 20, 2020
What, Me Funny?
One great satire mag satirizes another, as the October 1971 issue of National Lampoon presented this astoundingly spot-on, 15 page parody of Mad Magazine. No one was safe either, from god Gaines to mad man Martin, Fold-Ins to even the letters column, and with lots of big gun illustrators like Joe Orlando, John Romita, and Ernie Colon (to name just a few) stepping in to severely call 'ol Alfred out while creating incredible imitations of classic Mad bullpen artists and writers. I have to wonder how Mad felt about all of this? I mean, as much as I love 70's Mad, NP does have some rather valid points on the direction the magazine was heading during this era.
OK ... here's IMHO about humor, it can cross into the "bitter" category. Is this on point? Yup. Is it a deep dive? Yup -- and amazingly deep dive and a lot of comic history that probably most 70s Mad readers didn't even know existed. But it seems like there's a real ax to grind in this, and it makes it less funny.
ReplyDeleteThat out of the way, boy is this sticking in about a hundred knives and twisting them all!
I'd still rather read Mad, over and over.
ReplyDeleteGood gravy, that was just brutal. You are right, this is some well observed and fatally pointed work. But I do think they toed the line by staying pretty funny, too. I started snickering (right along with all the wincing) as early as the contents page (IT ONLY KURTZ WHEN I LAUGH DEPT.) and generally kept it up all the way through. The SPY VS. SPY page is amazing. I laughed till I started coughing. I guess that's where all the gutsy topical satire was hiding all along.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is basically roasting the MAD I grew up with. I admit everything National Lampoon is grousing about here, but as a juvenile myself at the time, I certainly didn't need the magazine to be a lot more adult or biting. I loved all the Don Martin gore, and Al Jaffee weirdness, and greasy-pimply-fishboney grayscale gross-out art of MAD in the seventies and eighties. I still do. There isn't anything wrong with making something that can be outgrown. The things people love in their tween-through-young adult years tend to be lifelong favorites. National Lampoon gets to be on that list for me, right along with MAD, simply for the Vaughn Bode and Jeffery Catherine Jones stuff all the way in the back.
I am a little sad that there was likely nothing on earth Gaines and Feldstein could do strike back. It is totally true that the Lampoon had much more in the way of nervy freedom than MAD could ever possibly return fire with. Sigh.
Alan Weiss made a great Jack Davis here. And I want to see a lot more of Joe Orlando in this mode. Wonder why they didn't even try to skewer Sergio?
I love both magazines for the exact reasons perfectly summed up here: MAD for it's vast range of smart and juvenile humor, and National Lampoon for painfully skewering everything (yes, even the things I love) without a care in the world who's feelings might get pummeled. Now which one to me is funnier? Mad. But which one feels more honest in it's skewer? Definitely NL. Both publications have at times stomped all over things I adore with just as much mean spirited piss as the other, and I think that's why both are so tremendous at what they do / did. Political correctness has ruined a lot of humor these days. I mean, would MAD now have R2D2 calling C3P0 a "fag robot" like he did in '78? Doubtful. I actually don't remember reading much MAD magazine until around '77 or '78 to be honest, (I officially started a subscription in '80 with the Alien issue), but at an even earlier age I already had a huge pile of the MAD paperbacks which contained mostly reprints from the undoubtably maniacally superior 1950's issues with Kurtzman, Davis, Wood, Elder, Severin ruling the newsstands. When you compare this bullpen even to the one I love in the 70's, well, that's where I can see NL's point in this article. So on the whole, National Lampoon was always good for a real, timely laugh as much as a jaw dropping groan (and of course the naughty underground comics and REAL naked girl photos!), but how does any of that stack up to the timelessness of Kane Keen Private Eye, Plastic Sam, or Shermlock Shomes in the Hounds of the Basketballs? Right.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by how spot-on Ralph Reese's imitation of Paul Coker Jr's art style is. Wow! he was an assistant to Wally Wood (and you can see that influence too on the fold-in) so I guess it isn't too surprising.
ReplyDelete"I have to wonder how Mad felt about all of this?"
ReplyDeleteThis blog recounts "The Dave Berg Incident": https://www.newsfromme.com/2009/12/10/foto-file-13/
Enjoyed the fun here. I bought both and enjoyed them in their time. Thanks Mr.K.
ReplyDeleteI honest to God thought this was a regular issue of MAD until I saw the f-word and started over. It's fascinating to see, but as others have pointed out, it seems somehow deeply personally aggrieved.
ReplyDeleteIt mainly reminds me I had an Al Jaffee book before we moved to another state, and I've never seen it again. I probably should search eBay for a new copy.
In the 1970s I really liked National Lampoon but then they decided they had to become more edgy and instead of funny it just got really mean and I stopped reading it.
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