Product Description

Traces the evolution of MAD from its position as an obscure ten-cent comic book to its near cult status, discussing its reflection of post-World War II popular culture--including movies, politicians, and ad campaigns. Reprint. 75,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #797764 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Publisher Bill Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman produced the first issue of Mad magazine in 1956 and American satirical humor has never been the same since. Beginning with the comic book company founded by his father, Max, Gaines transformed his father's wholesome comics lines into EC Comics, the profitable publisher of classic 1950s' horror comics, and later introduced Mad and its mascot, the "What Me Worry" kid, Alfred E. Neuman. Although basically celebratory and uncritical, art historian Reidelbach's detailed history of Mad mentions recent criticisms of sexist and homophobic material in the magazine as well as Mad 's (and the comics industry's) contested policies on the ownership of commissioned artwork. Most amusing are descriptions of Gaines--who continues to run the profitable magazine as a "benevolent dictatorship"--and his idiosyncratic management theories ( Mad accepts no advertising, has never conducted a reader survey and does little merchandising). The book is chock-full of Mad material--the usual "trash," as Mad always describes its own contents--as well as information on the many freelance artists and writers who have worked for the magazine.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- A zany celebration of 40 years of MAD that should please ardent fans and attract browsers with its madcap illustrations that include reproductions of every cover since 1952.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Art historian Reidelbach's history of Mad magazine is arranged thematically--which makes sense, since the magazine has changed little in 40 years, making a chronological approach superfluous. Only occasionally critical (touching briefly on the shortage of female points of view, periodic homophobia, and publisher William M. Gaines's controversial management style), Reidelbach examines the different things Mad has done, and been accused of doing, and the tremendous influence it has had on the field of satire and the American consciousness. The book is profusely illustrated, well researched, and has numerous sidebars profiling the many Mad contributors over the years: creator Harvey Kurtzman, Gaines, and the rest of "the usual gang of idiots." What makes the book stand out, however, is the remarkable and imaginative layout by Alexander Isley Design, using different typefaces and the occasional right angle to differentiate main text from sidebars, captions, and pithy quotes. Essential for pop culture collections; a discretionary purchase for public and academic libraries.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

must-read for fans of mad
This book is a must-read for fans of the magazine or comic books in general. It has lots of samples from older issues, pictures of every cover, and a complete history of not only Mad, but the factors that influenced it, and the early days of comic books. The chapter on the history of Alfred E. Neuman is excellent.

Boy! This SHOULD have been better!
COMPLETELY MAD is a fairly thorough, albeit superficial, treatment of the MAD phenomenon. A biased perspective leaves much unsaid. Too much a valentine to Gaines and company. I would have enjoyed more material from the MAD comic book. Much of the information about the "usual gang of idiots" is extremely sketchy, bland and/or uninteresting, meaning that Ms. Reidelbach did not go very far beyond MAD's offices for information; i.e., a superficial and pretty lousy job of research. There was so much opportunity here!

Okay history of a relic
Anyone out there seen "Mad" magazine lately? Last I heard it was an "asset" buried deep in Time Warner's DC Comics pile, running ads, its circulation approaching nil, its publisher trying to make it "relevant". This indifferently written history tries to sell Bill Gaines and his Usual Gang of Idiots as world changers, but someone beat them to the iconoclastic punch; they were Catskill Menckens with Yiddishisms. Yet the very earnest Maria Reidenbach may have a point: all that in-your-face attitude passed down through "Mad"-reading geniuses like George Lucas has become the manner of our times, and we suffer for it. To be sure it was uproarious in its day and its best can still inspire the belly laugh, and even now its appeal is understandable -- think 43-Man Squamish. But too much of it is just "The Producers", inspiring a shrug of the shoulders and "you had to be there"; the Kennedy family set to Gilbert and Sullivan and all those jokes about expense-accounting three-martini-drinking admen aren't very amusing anymore. We see that in its mascot's name, a pun based on a pointless in-joke (Alfred Newman? Why?) by Henry Morgan, himself a cautionary tale -- a shock-jock of the forties who ended his career with a million voiceovers. (MCI, anyone?) We see it especially in its records. "Fink Along with Mad"! Mitch Miller! Fun-NY! Or it would have been had it and an earlier companion not been excuses for drippy teen-rock ballads with hilarious words like "dandruff." Removed from the elaborate technological shtick of eight separate parallel grooves on one flexidisc "It's a Super-Spectacular Day" is as mirthful as a punch in the nose. That the magazine couldn't make the move to other media (notwithstanding "Saturday Night Live" -- er, "Mad TV") says there was basically something untranslatable about "Mad" -- or worse, that it was a cult hit before its time.

And yet "Mad" deserves a place in our hearts, and in our cultural history, for one big reason: its illustrators. Never before has any publication run so much brilliant penmanship, from enduring names: Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Don Martin, Antonio Prohías, Sergio Aragonés (he of the imperishable margin art), Al Jaffee, Jack Rickard, George Woodbridge, Bob Clarke, Paul Coker, Jr. and many others. If the jokes are stale the art is as fresh as ever. They cannot be blamed for the hack magazine editors who diluted them through overuse, especially Davis, who in the seventies seemed to pop up in "Time" every other week to tiresome effect. Probably the only way to do it justice is in some sort of expensive collector's reprint, hardly feasible with the zillions of paperback anthologies. Given the space limits the designer Alex Isley has produced a creditable tribute, a kind of high-end yearbook with lots of color splashes; this is truly a triumph of style over content. But if "Mad" is the earth-shattering blast of forward-looking truth insisted here it deserved better. The illustrators can forever speak for themselves.