Mad #481 (John Ficarra) - Simpsons Issue - September 2007

I was watching The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 when The Simpsons made their first appearance on television.  My impression then was that the animation was not very good and the voices were irritating.  It was certainly not animation the quality of Walt Disney or Warner Bros., or Rocky & Bullwinkle for that matter.  However, the humor of Matt Groening and company has always been good to the extent that The Simpsons is one of the longest running programs in the history of television.  Excellent writing and the work of voice actors Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria have carried the series in spite of marginal animation.  When the Mad staff leaned that The Simpsons Movie was coming to town, they quickly designed an issue to recognize the three decades of edgy humor.  Art Director Sam Viviano (Jack Syracuse) drew two Simpsons covers with BartAlf front and center to entice Groening fans to splurge $7.98 to own both.  The big treat of the issue is the 16 Simpsonesque caricatures of the Mad staff covering a large portion of the contents page.  I always wondered what Amy Vozeolas looked like in yellow face.  Writer Steve Smallwood also presents five "Failed Pitches for the New Simpsons Movie".  No artist is credited for the drawings, but I am guessing -- Jack Syracuse.  I would like to see a full Simpsons movie parody in the same issue but we did get two great ones instead.  The Arnie Kogen/Hermann Mejia "Spider-Sham 3" filled the parody gap for Mad #478.  And "Boo!" (parody of 300) filled the Mort Drucker gap for fans of the great artist who have seen his output dwindle over the years.  Although Mr. Drucker's parodies once appeared in every issue, Boo! would be his only full movie parody of 2007.  [JAM 11/13/2014]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Webber Without a Cause - Spider-Sham 3
Food Courting - The Young Man's Guide to Successful Mall Romance
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
A Campaign in the Ass - Mad Proudly Presents Outtakes from Hillary's Sopranos Spoof
Homer Wreckers - Failed Pitches for the New Simpsons Spoof
Jailhouse Mock - Things Shouted Out to Paris Hilton as She Left Prison
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Angster's Paradise - Monroe & ... The Summer Job Part 1
Deceased And Desist - Phrases to Absolutely Avoid When Delivering a Eulogy
The Devil Wears Nada - If the Satanic Church Opened a Nudist Colony  [fake department]
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Mixed Martial Arts
Manga Mia! - Celebrity Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards
Reel to Real - The Believability/Unbelievability of Harry Potter
The Greek Squad - Boo!
Observation Dreck - What the Heck is the Difference?

Fold-In - Sanjaya