Mad #345 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Beatles Issue - May 1996

Twenty-seven years after their final performance and 16 years after the death of John Lennon (1940-1980), Mad finally did a significant parody of The Beatles by the great poet, Frank Jacobs.  Six Mad artists contributed to "Mad's Beatles Songbook" which was long overdue.  Drew Friedman drew an excellent parody of the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover with black spy, zeppelin, Dave Berg, Sergio Aragones, Bill Gaines, Al Jaffee, Alfred (twice), Arthur, eight-ball, black-bomb, false-teeth, Flip, white spy and lots of trash in prominent locations.  Aragones drew "Gambling" (not Something) with casinos, sports and dice action.  Dennis Langdon drew "Internet" (not Yesterday) about a bug-eyed, computer pedophile.  Uncredited Gerry Gersten put Newt Gingrich on the capital building ala King Kong for "Hey, Newt" (not Hey, Jude).  Leave it to Tom Bunk to skewer the "Talk-Show Fan" (not Nowhere Man) with a resurrected Lennon playing guitar and various unsavory character providing ugly fodder for the buck-toothed, pig-tailed, television-watching loser.  And, Angelo Torres nailed the dysfunctional "Royal Family" (not Yellow Submarine) as they saunter through their exceedingly privileged lives.  Mad first noticed the Beatles with the classic Jaffee fold-in in Mad #88 showing the boys with bald pates.  Two issues later, Mort Drucker offered one his perfect caricatures in "Mad's Teenage Idol Promoter of the Year."  Jack Rickard (Mad #118) drew the Sgt. Pepper four for Jacobs' celebrity valentine.  The Beatles finally made the cover of Mad #121 as drawn by the great Norman Mingo.  In Mad #134, Jacobs returned with "Mother Goose" and Jack Davis drew the foursome with Paul as the rumored "dead as nails."  One other Mad-Beatles connection of note is "Whatever Happend To ..." again by Frank Jacobs in Mad #185 drawn by Bob Clarke.  Sadly, John Lennon never reached the age of 50 as imagined by Jacobs and Clarke.

Another excellent article in this issue is the television parody ("Carolwhine Sitting Pretty") of Caroline in the City.  Paul Coker received a rare assignment for the parody and he delivered six great pages of drawings.  I was especially impressed with his tributes to cartoon classics including Krazy Kat, Dagwood, Katzenjammer Kids, Mickey Mouse, Mr. Natural, Alfred, Beetle Bailey, Pogo, Bart Simpson, Orphan Annie and Sandy, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Little King, Garfield, Snoopy, Dick Tracy et al.  [JAM 3/21/2013]

Departments:
Greed Is the Word - Mad's Beatles Songbook
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Graduation
The Fright Stuff - Chilling Thoughts
While the Cat's Away Device Will Play - Appliance Story
Tales From the Duck Side - The Ghastly Gastronomical Glitch
Taking the Wind out of Their Sales - Telemarketing Theatre
We're Here, We're Queries, Get Used to It - Why Is It?
Spoof, Justice, And the American Way - A Court TV Scene We'd Like to See
Beast Meets Jest - The Devil's Advocate
Beach And Moan - Drama on Page 29
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Catholic-Tic Converter - The Popemobile For Rent
Pro-Apportion - When "Per Serving" Information Is Placed on Everything
Well, Dud! - "Amazing Discoveries" Products That Never Left the Lab
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Cathy Gotswiped - Carolwhine Sitting Pretty

Fold-In - Windows