Mad #519 (John Ficarra) - Dumbest People 2012 Issue - February 2012

Mad readers were treated to a 5% bonus as the "MAD 20" was expanded to 21 in a bumper year for stupidity.  Lance Armstrong, George Zimmerman and Paula Dean were obvious choice.  The best of the 21 were #4 "Russ Limbaugh's Misogyny," #13 "Unscientific American" and #18 "The Mayan Calendar."  Professional Jerk Limbaugh should make the list every year as should #3 "Paparazzi" and #19 "Vampire" angst.  The Phil McAndrew/Charles Akins Monopoly parody is right on the money.  Scott Nickel's Scientific American magazine cover parody summarizes the idiocy that currently infects the Republican party regarding the reproductive rights of women.  How do these people ever win elections?  The Jeff Kruse/Tom Bunk double splash-page jab at the Mayans (or really targeting superstitious idiots who hype this stuff) is a feast for detail-loving eyes.  Bunk found room for Groucho Marx (1890-1977), Albert Einstein (1877-1955) and several Mad staffers including Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones and Bill Gaines (1922-1992).  Bunk's self-portrait can be found just to the right of pipe-smoking, Mayan Alfred E. Neuman. 

Buried at the end of this "Dumbest" issue is Arnie Kogen's excellent parody ("The Dork Knight Reprises") of The Dark Knight Rises, the last of the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy.  The Nolan movies turned the Batman legacy upside down with its interpretation of the comic book hero, and was deserving of the full Mad treatment.  Artist Tom Richmond again proved himself to be the equal of legendary Mad caricaturist Mort Drucker with this seven-page tour de force.  Richmond's drawings perfectly reveal the flaws of this batty movie.  Of special interest is the prison escape scene on page 53 opening the Pandora's Box of social criminals, including John Edwards, Randy Travis, O.J. Simpson, Hannibal Lecter, Jerry Sandusky and Rod Blagojevich, onto a terrified public.  Look for a mime, Rat from Pearls Before Swine, Balco syringe, fuzzy dice, MAD Zeppelin, Muppets and much more in this rich parody.  Robin is lucky to have been omitted from Nolan's Gotham City. [JAM 12/9/2012]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
The Boy Who Cried Wolf Blitzer - CNN-Themed Cautionary Fables  [fake department]
The MAD 20 - The Dumbest People, Events and Things of 2012
Pen And Stink - The MAD Strip Club
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Serge-In General - A MAD Look at Alternative Medicine
In Every Life Some Bane Must Fall - The Dork Knight Reprises
Our Daily Dread - The Best of The Idiotical

Fold-In - Tan Face  [#20 on page 30]