Mad #552 (Bill Morrison) - Hollywood Issue - August 2018

Hollywood is a portion of Los Angeles where approximately 80,000 people live.  It is the recognized home of the motion picture industry.  Johnny Grant (1923-2008) was the "Honorary Mayor of Hollywood."  The position was not filled after his death.  In his second issue, Executive Editor Bill Morrison supervised the "Hollywood Goes Mad" with a tribute cover of Alfred E. Neuman splashing himself (except his red-tennis-shoed feet) at the Chinese Theater.  The scene is similar to that on cover of Mad #161 drawn by the great Norman Mingo (1896-1980).  The autograph of Poseidon Adventure star Shelley Winters (1920-2006) is included on the cover with signatures of ten great Mad artists (Aragones, Berg, Davis, Drucker, Elder, Jaffee, Kurtzman, Martin, Mingo and Wood).  Within the issue are 22 more pages devoted to Hollywood and the movies including a double-splash by Tom Bunk, "The Unwritten Rules of Hollywood" by Desmond Devlin and Anton Emdin, "A Mad Look at Hollywood" by Sergio Aragones, and "When Women Take Over Hollywood" by Teresa Burns Parkhurst.

For me, the best parts of "Mad No. 2" are Eric Joyner's cover, "Xander and Kam's Sneaky Previews" by Ian Boothby and Tom Richmond, "Unwritten Rules ...", "Celebrity Political Posters ...", and the appearance of the Mad #90 cover in "The Wisenheim Museum" by Jim Woodring.  I am still not sold on "Potrzebie Comics."  I think this material should look more like Mad art and less like run-of-the-mill 21st century comic books.  But, that's me.  [JAM 5/24/2018]

Contents:
02 Lesser Known Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (15 Minutes of Shame Dept.)
04 Embarrassing Celebrity Tattoos (Tat'll Tell Dept.)
05 Xander and Kam's Sneaky Previews (Matinee Idlers Dept.)
11 Movie Scenes We'd Like to See (Bats Entertainment Dept.)
13 Paul Garbanzo, Food Critic (Tasteless Humor Dept.)
14 The Wisenheim Museum: Jim Woodring (Let's Hang Dept.)
15 Potrzebie Comics
16 Infant Terrible
21 The 27 Club
24 Boonies, Burbs and Burgs (How Can You Not See the Nazi Department)
28 Mad's Tom Bunk Gets Stranded in Hollywood
30 The Unwritten Rules of Hollywood (The Ruling Crass Dept.)
32 Bedtime Stories for the Trump Era (The Cry Yourself to Sleep Dept.)
33 A Few Rules for Dating My Daughter (Tee'd Off Dept.)
34 Spy vs. Spy (Joke And Dagger Dept.)
36 A Mad Look at Hollywood (Serge-In General Dept.)
40 When Women Take Over Hollywood (Word to the Guys Dept.)
41 Map of the Scars: A Guide to Celeb's Botched Surgeries  [fake department]
42 12 Types You May Find at a Urinal (Spotty Humor Dept.)
44 Politix (Binge & Purge Dept.)
45 Thanks to This Issue's Non-Contributors (Thanks, But No Thanks Dept.)
46 Celebrity Political Posters We'd Like to See (Poll Weevil Dept.)
48 Shorts & Briefs
52 Incoming!
55 The MADifesto
56 Real, Dumb

Fold-In - Global Warming