Mad as the Devil!

It's 100 days until Halloween, and while scouring the Karswell Kollection for something appropriate to post, I stumbled upon this fun costume party devil encounter by MAD Magazine hero, Sergio Aragones, and thought, yes, sometimes it really doesn't get better than three perfect panels by one of the funniest men in the funny books today. (And you guys know how much we adore the Devil around here already anyway too, right?) Devilish artwork on the front and back covers as well-- this is a seriously hot little paperback collection of some of Sergio's best gags from 1975.

So who's already working on their costume for October 31st?

"Hack, Hack, Sweet Has-Been" or "What Ever Happened To Good Taste?"

Annnnnd here we go-- I promised you guys something different, and while I have delivered a few MAD Magazine posts in the past, I've yet to submit this kooky spoof that spearheads the Hollywood trend (at the time) of casting glamorous 1920's, 30's and 40's Golden Age actresses into B-horror film roles of the 50's and 60's. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwick, the list goes on, and as film history has shown, while they aged gracefully and reached their own "golden years" in life, the youth obsessed film industry either turned their backs on them completely, or cast them in campy trash classics like Trog. Or, in the case of today's post, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" meets "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" Some actresses actually prospered in this new age of horror cinema, while unfortunately, others did not. And while I'm not super fond of the stale arsenal of age jokes here that make fun of some of my all-time favorite leading ladies, I certainly do love the magnificent Mort Drucker artwork, as well as the very idea of all these wonderful women coming together for a murderous axe party in a dreary old house! Originally featured in the January 1966 issue of MAD #100, script by Larry Siegel. Enjoy, and we'll see you next month-- IN COLOR!

The Case of the Man Who Died A Lot

We'll return to more stories from THE THING series shortly, but first we have another request for a Jack Davis post, (I get Jack Davis requests weekly, btw!) And since the requestee wasn't very specific, thank god, I'm keeping the EC's locked up and digging into my 70's MAD paperback collection instead, thus dragging out this shivery chuckle fest, (written by Dick De Bartolo), and wonderfully illustrated by our man in question, the great Jack Davis-- a man who, despite a few false death rumors over the last few years, is actually very much still alive a lot! This gag filled horror gem appeared in The Return of a Mad Look at Old Movies #P4200, from March 1970.

The Ultimate Horror Movie: Arbor Day

I had a request for something by Jack Davis, and though the request from "Spizz?" wasn't specific about any certain story title or publisher, I'm pretty certain that everyone stopping by this blog has probably already seen their fair share of Jack's amazing 1950's EC horror hits. So, instead here's something that maybe hopefully you haven't seen, (or haven't seen in awhile) from the December 1981 issue of Mad #227, --Davis and Silverstone team-up to spoof on the growing phenomenon of the 80's holiday-themed slasher film-- it's funny stuff, and of course the artwork is superb.

RIP Al Feldstein (Oct 24, 1925 – April 29, 2014)

Viva Monsters! / New Movie Monsters...

Let's celebrate April Fool's Day today with some spoofy creature feature fun and two of MAD Magazine's very finest artists, shall we? First up, classic monster gags by the amazing Sergio Aragones, followed by Wally Wood's "New Movie Monsters from Madison Ave." (PS: I'm not sure where any of these originated, all are taken from paperback reprints from the 60's and 70's.)


















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And congratulations to Jeff Overturf, he's the big winner of THOIA's "6 of Me on the Prowl" contest. And since the 6 Karswells couldn't agree between all the great entries in this contest, I left the decision up to my son Zander, who at the moment is probably the biggest Three Stooges fan on the planet, annnnd his choice was a no-brainer. Jeff wins himself a copy of Peter H. Brothers new book "Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda", published by Authorhouse. Nice work Jeff, please send me your mailing address! And thanks to everyone that joined in the fun, there's lots more horrific contests coming in 2010!