Mad #548 (John Ficarra) - Strange Issue - December 2017

With only two more issues to come from the New York staff, these guys just keep putting out great stuff.  The lead parody ("Strangely Thin") by Desmond Devlin and Tom Richmond is one of the best parodies of a television show that I did not see.  Richmond packs his drawings with sight gags from the 1980s and Devlin solidifies himself as the greatest Mad writer (with apologies to all of the other greats).  I like that E.T. utilizes the law firm of "Dewey, Cheatem & Howe."  The great writers Dick DeBartolo ("Duller Shave Club") and Jeff Kruse ("Babies [backward] Rn't Us Registry") gave us two more great advertisement parodies.  I, personally, prefer the "Suitcase Handle Grip" with my "Samurai Blade."  And, as the grandfather of a two-year-old bouncing, baby girl, I certainly appreciate the value of a "Smorgasboard High Chair."  After that is was the usual stuff for several pages (including Tom Bunk's two-page "Disney World" WOW!), but then Devlin came through again with the excellent Peanuts parody, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown 2017 Edition."  Some readers would expect that, like the last 40 games of the 2017 San Francisco Giants baseball season, the Mad team might be just going through the motions.  But, being the professionals they are, they hit another home run to complete this awful baseball metaphor.  [JAM 10/3/2017]

[from Desmond Devlin on 1/29/2018] "A friend forwarded me the link to your review of the 'Stranger Things' issue before last, in which you dub me 'the greatest MAD writer.'  That is excessively kind and a little bit hard for me to believe, but thanks!  I just keep plugging away one article at a time, trying to be funny.  There was a lot of 'looking back' among the MAD gang this past December, and it's bittersweet to recall that I first sat down and showed my stuff to John and Nick when I was 17 years old.  And now, at the MAD events, some of the younger contributors are excited to meet ME!  As Riley used to say, 'Wotta revolting development THIS is.'  Well, anyhow, I appreciate your extravagant compliment, accurate or not.  With you being a longtime MAD buff, I expect you'll appreciate a couple of touches that are in the last NY issue, #550."

Departments:
Random Acts of Mindless - The Fundalini Pages
Eighties Is Enough - Strangely Thin
Dick - The Duller Shaving Club
P.C. Does It - 10 Toons from P.C. Vey
Some Like It Tot - Babies RNT Us
On Your Markers, Get Set, Go - Mad's Tips for Making Protest Signs
Pen And Stink - The Mad Strip Club
Fake Nudes - If Donald Trump Was a Porn Star [fake department]
Parks And Wreck - Mad's Tom Bunk Visits Walt Disney World
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Vaping
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Rotten to the Encore - The Mad Vault
Character Flawed - Dewey Derwin Destroys the World
The Bleeding Heart of the Matter - A Liberal Hopes/A Liberal Knows
The Vinyl Solution - Tips for a Long-Lasting Relationship with Your Latex Girlfriend
Phrases of the Loon - Horrifying Cliches: Special Trump Edition
Gourd Grief! - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: 2017 Edition
Out with the Old, In with the Neuman - The Gap-Toothed Gallery

Fold-In - Alex Jones