Mad #490 (John Ficarra) - Calista Flockhart Issue - June 2008

Harrison Ford was 65 when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released.  After two failed marriages, Ford was dating the star of Ally McBeal who was younger than some of his children.  Director Steven Spielberg broke all of the trilogy rules by making a fourth Indiana Jones movie, nineteen years after the third.  However, Mad's most prolific writer (Dick DeBartolo) was ready for the job.  But,after "Raiders of a Lost Art" (with Frank Jacobs - see background scan on page 18) in Mad #228, "The Temple of Goons" in #250, and "Last Crude Days" in #291, DeBartolo's movie parody was missing from this issue that celebrates all things Indy.  Arnie Kogen got the job for Mad #493 ("The Kingdom of the Creative Dry Spell").  Whereas the Mad editors could not wait for those pesky writers to do the parody thing, Mad readers did get a great cover by Mark Fredrickson, a letter from George Lucas to Spielberg by David Shayne, a movie poster ("Embryo Jones and the Temple of Womb") by Desmond Devlin & Richard Williams, some non-snake jokes by John Caldwell, and a bit of trickery by the ever clever Al Jaffee ("What Frightening Ancient Relic Will Be the Focus of Much Attention and Fanfare This Summer?").  The best drawings in the issue are by the great comic book artist, Robert Sikoryak who drew "SuperDelegate" written by Joe Raiola.  [JAM 12/7/2014]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Oy Fey! - 30 Crock
Washington DC Comics - The Adventures of SuperDelegate
Hit & Missive - The Top-Secret "Indiana Jones Memo" from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Science Fairs
Fetal Attraction - Embryonic Jones and the Temple of Womb
Angster's Paradise - Monroe and ... Evolution
Optimus Prime Rib - What If Transformers Worked as Butchers?  [fake department]
Monkey in the Metal - Mad's Rusty Outtakes from Iron Man
Taking the Wind out of Their Sales - A-Hole Food Market Circular
Rall of Duty - 7 Periods Closer to Death
Reptile Dysfunction - 10 Things Indiana Jones Hates More Than Snakes
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Good Kill Hunting - Deathster
Observation Dreck - What the Heck is the Difference?

Fold-In - John McCain (not giant skull)