Mad #224 (Albert Feldstein) - Don Martin's Popeye Issue - July 1981

The Thimble Theatre comic strip characters were drawn by several Mad artists over the years including Will Elder, Wally Wood, Bob Clarke and Jack Rickard.  However, it seems that Don Martin lived in a different world.  Martin's Popeye has a huge jaw and rather floppy feet.  Olive Oyl has a really long nose and an unusual reaction to spinach.  Wimpy is looking somewhat trimmer but Bluto needs to go on a diet.  While most artists learned to draw by copying the Sunday newspaper comics, Martin drew as if he was raised in the House of Mirrors.  [JAM 11/23/2010]

 Reader Neil Wahlert was especially pleased with the Teen Beat magazine parody ("Classical Beat") by Larry Siegel and Jack Davis.  Parodies of classical music are rare for Mad.  See also "Mad's Rhyming Guide to the Orchestra" by Frank Jacobs and Don Martin in the Mad 84 "Extra" Special.  Artist Davis is an extremely versatile caricaturist but true classical music fans will confirm that his depiction of Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) was not even close.  See also "The Ballad of Arthur Freen" in Don Martin Carries On.

Look for Kirk Douglas, Marlon Brando and Sylvester Stallone in "Raving Bully."

The Prohias spies are cowboys.

Departments:
Mucho De Niro - Raving Bully
A Big Hand for Little Feats - If the Guiness Book of World Records Dealt with Everyday Life
Sailor Man-Slaughter - Don Martin Looks at "Popeye"
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Oily Edition - Mad's Do-It-Yourself Mid-East Crisis Newspaper Story
Kick in the Career End - Guess Who's Going to Grow Up to Be What?
Rubbing Fault into the Wound - Who Are You Gonna Blame?
Rock of Ages - Classical Beat Magazine
To See or Not to See - William Shakespeare ... Movie Critic
Gift Horsing Around - Bonus Balonus
Score Bored - On a Scale of 1-to-10
Jet Set for Take-Off - Har to Har

Fold-In - Book