As the saying goes, another one bites the dust. Over the last few years, we have seen a lot of legacy brands, establishments shut shop, much to the disappointment of their fans. When I got to know that one of my favourite magazines is shutting down, I was shattered. MAD magazine not just entertained me through all these years, it also has been one of my strongest influences. And after being such an iconic flag bearer of satire since 1952, it finally had to face a tough decision.
I first picked up an issue of MAD (yes, I like to type it in all-caps, just the way they have maintained their extremely famous logo) when I was around 9-years-old, much, much younger than the ideal age to read this magazine. The magazine was filled with awesome art, crazy jokes, risqué content and overall insanity! But I was pulled right in. I probably didn’t even get half the jokes in it back then, but as the years went by, the magazine made more and more sense to me.
Satire is a strong weapon. Not just for entertainment, but also to make socio-political commentary. I used to be (and still am) astonished with the in-your-face mentions in MAD, always comparing it to how we in India play it rather safe with satirical writing.
MAD defied all obstacles to exist in the first place. You see, back in the 1950s and ’60s, there used to be a concept of the Comics Code Authority, which was pretty much like a Censor board for comics. Comics were prohibited from depicting crime, horror elements, crass humour etc in an effort to keep things clean. MAD started off as a comic, but soon realised that it might have to water its content down due to this code, and decided to convert into a magazine format. In the following years, the magazine went through several ups and downs, and yet their popular mascot, the gap toothed Alfred E Neuman, has flashed his trademark smile, across all covers, asking the reader, ‘What-me worry?’
I’ll come back to satire. I love this genre so much, most of my comics like Angry Maushi, too are based on socio-political satire. In a world, where there’s so much political drama and social trends, both good and bad, how can an artist not tap into this bank of content? Satire can be as basic as ‘making fun of’ or as brutal as a political cartoon. MAD had an excellent balance between the two. Their movie satires were pure rib-ticklers, but it was their political gags that made for the best reading. So much so that their jokes on US President Donald J Trump have been the most savage ones.
Satire thus becomes a strong medium of communication, presenting the citizens with a different perspective of the same piece of news they have consumed through mainstream media. Eye-opening at times, but sure to start debates and conversations. The magazine’s take on the Bush administration was perhaps the best bits of sarcasm ever.
Now with the news of MAD downing shutters, I value my collection of the magazine’s issues more and more. They are absolute gems of comic literature. Al Jaffee’s classic fold-in back covers (he has made them for each and every issue for the last 64 years), Sergio Aragones’ Marginal thinking department, which had little cartoons strewn all over the margins of the comic, Don Martin’s amazing cartoons and sound effects, Jack Davis’ crazy lines, Dave Berg’s subtle but extremely effective humour, Duck Edwing’s writing, Mort Drucker and Angerlo Torres’ movie satires which are currently drawn by the superb Tom Richmond...the list goes on. MAD calls these guys, ‘The Usual Gang of Idiots’. And unless there’s a miraculous change in the magazine’s plans, this gang will be sorely missed!
(The writer is a comic creator, illustrator and animator)
