Mad #518 (John Ficarra) - Toilet Saga Issue - December 2012

The Mad editors made up for lost time by summarizing the Twilight (movie) saga in one eight-page parody written to perfection by Desmond Devlin.  The artwork is by Anton Emdin who is an excellent caricaturist but I would really have preferred the Tom Richmond treatment.  Emdin gives us some background humor but most of it is rather tame.  Richmond is relegated to one drawing of President Obama on page 30.  The "Is Barack Obama a Real American?" article by Barry Liebmann is mostly benign regarding the right-wingnut "birther" movement.  The editors jab Mitt Romney ("Ladies and Gentlemen ... It's Romney Dangerfield") and Al Jaffee add his statement about presidential transparency ("MAD FOLD-IN").  However, Mad neutrality remained intact for this last issue before election day.

Other clever articles in the issue are: Devlin's "Trademark Graffiti" with good drawings by the team of Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, and Frank Santopadre's "New Shows on the All-Pirate Network" with Tom Bunk at his tombunkiest but with just the right amount of disconnected body parts.  It is also very good to see Nick Meglin briefly come out of retirement to provide four wonky ideas for "Horrifying Political Cliches."  [JAM 10/13/2012]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindness - The Fundalini Pages
There's a Bloodsucker Every Minute - The Toilet Saga
Minstrel Cramps - Mad Examines Common Lute Injuries  [fake department]
There's an Apathy for That - Are You an Activist or a Slacktivist?
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at College
In One Year And Out the Other - The Mad 2013 Calendar: The Year of the Hammerhead
Alien Notion - Is Barack Obama a Real American?
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
Rotten to the Encore - The Mad Vault
The Measures of Tiara Madres - You're a Great Pageant Mom If ...
The Brandwriting is on the Wall - Trademark Graffiti
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
Whatever Floats Your Vote - Newspapers Weigh in on This Year's Least Important Ballot Propositions
Hook, Lineup & Stinkers - New Shows on the All-Pirate Network
Our Daily Dread - The Best of the Idiotical

Fold-In - Safe