Mad #521 (John Ficarra) - Game of Thrones Issue - June 2013

There are two significant parodies in this issue, both written by veteran Mad writer Desmond Devlin: "Games of Groans" and "Spyfail."  Everything else in this issue seems like filler to me.  Hermann Mejia drew the "Groans" television parody in his wonderful style with perfect use of muted colors.  Based on the never-ending, medieval fantasy series A Game of Thrones by George Raymond Richard Martin, the television version has just scratched the surface of the volumes of tales and the cast of thousands from this prolific author.  Mr. Martin created a dark and dangerous world devoid of technology but well-stocked with brutality and gratuitous sexual activity.  The Mad version parodies just portions of the first volume (A Song of Fire and Ice) which was enough brutal fantasy to satisfy my needs for a long time.

The movie parody, drawn by Mad's current premiere caricaturist, Tom Richmond, is actually a parody of the first three Daniel Craig adventures as James Bond: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.  The parody is narrated by the other five Broccoli Bonds (Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan).  Richmond's half-double-splash-page showing the six Bonds is a classic work of art.  The parody ignores the other two screen Bonds - David Niven (1910-1983) in the original 1967 Casino Royale movie, and Barry Nelson (1917-2007) in the 1954 Climax! television series (also Casino Royale).  Of the two parodies, Spyfail was Devlin's best work.  His summary of the Skyfall plot on panel four of page 53 is right on the money.  The basic plot of the 2012 Bond movie made no sense at all.  The ancestors of Ian Fleming (1908-1964) have failed the acclaimed spy/author with their silence regarding this story as well as many of the others that were never written by Fleming. [JAM 4/30/2013]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Feeling Over-Realmed - Game of Groans
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Baseball
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
A New Leash on Afterlife - Overheard in Doggie Heaven
Ready, Aim, Fire Sale - All-American Fun N' Gun Show
Berg's Eye Askew - The Darker Side of ... The Lighter Side of  ...
An Embarrassment of Richard's - Stuff-E-Vest Puff Jacket
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
Rotten to the Encore - The Mad Vault
Rest in Fleece - Mad Revisits the Funeral of Eddie Bauer  [fake department]
The Jiggle's Up - The Mad Guide to Man Boobs Volume 3
The Last Smile - 8 Suggestions to Soften the Blow for Those on Death Row
Hacking Up Fleming - Casebook "Spyfail" - The Battle of the Bonds
Our Daily Dread - The Best of the Idiotical

Fold-In - Mass Shooting [This fold-in appeared in the early printing but was replaced by the fold-in from Mad #309 in subsequent printings.]