Mad #522 (John Ficarra) - Slobbit Issue - September 2013

The Hobbit (or There And Back Again) is an excellent short fantasy novel that John Robert Reuel Tolkien wrote for his children in the early 1930s and finally published in 1937.  The Hobbit world eventually led to the three-volume Lord of the Rings published in 1954-1955.  I read them all but I always considered "Rings" to be more of the same and effectively - Hobbit times three.  However, I cannot deny that the trilogy provided ample material for the three blockbuster movies by Peter Jackson.  In my mind, The Hobbit should have been made into a movie long before the Rings project.  Now, Hobbit is being expanded by Jackson & Company and treated as sort of a prequel.  Fantasy purists should be appalled by this development.  Mad writer Desmond Devlin accurately describes the flawed stretch of the short fantasy into another three-phase series of blockbusters.  Devlin's Gandoof comments that he has no idea why he is the "travelling babysitter" and concludes that "... we've got nine hours to figure it out."  The white-bearded dwarf also comments that "... we've got to turn a thin little book into a long, long trilogy."  This situation is ripe for a Mad-type satire/parody that is perfectly cast by Devlin and Mad's best caricaturist, Tom Richmond, since Mort Drucker phased himself into retirement.  Richmond's map of the fantasy world in the background of the double-splash-page is an excellent throwback to the Davis-Elder-Wood-Drucker days in the 1950s.  There are sight jokes (Chicken Fat?, Easter Eggs?) in every panel.  The lead orc has a tic-tac-toe scar on his face.  Oz, Warner Brothers and Disney characters make appearances.  One of the dwarves has a chainsaw.  Trolls are wearing sunglasses and sunscreen.  And, the ultimate villain (Smaug - the dragon) is barely introduced in disguise (fake nose, mustache and eyeglasses).  My guess is that Mad will skip parodies of Hobbit II and Hobbit III since its criticisms of the Hollywood movie machine have been well-stated here.  [JAM 7/16/2013]

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
You Skin Some, You Lose Some - Proaaaaactiv
A Tolkien Gesture - The Slobbit
Frank on a Roll - The Debt
Writes And Wrongs - Mad's Office Greeting Card Etiquette
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at the Internet
America's Got Talons - What If Vultures Had Their Own Reality Show? [fake department]
Here Comes the Snide - Brutally Honest Marriage Vows
In Blog We Trust - Planet Tad!!!!!
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
It's Complaining Cats And Dogs - Some of Your Pet's Peeves
Rotten to the Encore - The Mad Vault
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
The Dilate Show - Overheard in Kim Kardashian's Delivery Room
The Ruse of Engagement - Signs You Might Be Getting Catfished
The Locked Mess Monsters - Storage Boors
Sewing Your True Colors - Boy Scout Merit Badges for the Digital Age
Our Daily Dread - The Best of The Idiotical

Fold-In - Uncle Sam's Hat