This Cuban Cartoonist Drew the Cold War for MAD Magazine
Posted: January 18, 2019 Filed under: Comics, History, Humor, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Cold War, Mad Magazine, Prohías Leave a commentThe Black Spy and the White Spy have been chasing each other around in MAD Magazine for 56 years
After penning one too many cartoons that were critical of Fidel Castro, Prohías — who was a prominent cartoonist and illustrator in his home country — headed for New York, writes Eric Grundhauser for Atlas Obscura. At the time, he didn’t speak a word of English.
“In New York, Prohías took work in a factory during the day, while working up his illustration portfolio at night,” Grundhauser writes. He changed the appearance of one of his characters from the strip he published in Cuba, El Hombre Siniestro, and gave him a counterpart: Spy vs. Spy was born.
“In 1960, just months after moving to the city, Prohías, along with his daughter Marta who acted as an intepreter, walked unannounced into the offices of MAD Magazine,” Grundhauser writes. “The editors were skeptical of the artist, but his silly spy gags won them over, and he had sold three of the strips to the magazine before leaving that day.”
His reason for going to MAD with his idea, writes scholar Teodora Carabas: he liked the magazine’s name. The Black Spy and White Spy have been a fixture in MAD ever since, appearing in the magazine’s Joke and Dagger Department. The strip’s appeal, which was one of the artist’s signature strengths, was partly its silence, writes Grundhausen. Like El Hombre Siniestro (“The Sinister Man”), the spies’ adventures were wordless, violent and hilarious, drawn in a dramatic style. Many of the jokes aren’t outwardly political, he writes, but Prohías said El Hombre was inspired by “the national psychosis of the Cuban people.” Read the rest of this entry »
Preliminary Color Pencil sketch and Final Cover by Norman Mingo for Mad Magazine #89, September 1964
Posted: April 10, 2016 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere | Tags: 1960s, Baby boomer, Cartoons, Frankenstien, Illustration, Mad Magazine, Monster, Parody, Pencil, satire, vintage Leave a commentPreliminary color pencil sketch and final cover by Norman Mingo from Mad magazine #89, published by EC Comics, September 1964.
MAD Magazine #5, June-July 1953, 10¢
Posted: December 19, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics | Tags: 1950s, Bill Elder, Cartoons, Comic Books, EC Comics, Horror, Illustration, Mad Magazine, Parody, satire Leave a commentFirst Issue of MAD Magazine, 1952
Posted: October 27, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment, Humor | Tags: Anthony Bourdain, Art Baltazar, Artist, Harvey Award, Harvey Kurtzman, Horror, Illustration, Lettering, Mad Magazine, New York City, Parody, satire Leave a commentFirst Issue of “Mad Magazine”, 10/1952
Happy birthday, Harvey Kurtzman and Mad Magazine! In October 1952, the very first issue of a new comic called “Mad” was issued, written almost entirely by Kurtzman. It soon came under Senate investigation (thus entering the records of the National Archives), which led to the comic book being transformed into the magazine still going strong today.
One of these early issues of Mad is on display in the Archives’ permanent exhibit, The Public Vaults, in Washington, DC.
(via National Archives Foundation on Facebook)
MAD Magazine Halloween Issue, 1960
Posted: October 23, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment | Tags: 1960s, Cartoons, Comic Books, Halloween, Illustration, Mad Magazine, Magazines, satire, vintage Leave a commentMAD Magazine: Hillary Clinton’s ‘Mrs. Clean’
Posted: March 31, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Cartoons, comedy, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, Illustration, Mad Magazine, Parody, satire, The Pantsuit Report 1 Comment[PHOTO] William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Reading MAD Magazine Between Takes on the Original Star Trek Series, 1968
Posted: March 4, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Leonard Nimoy, Mad Magazine, Photography, Star Trek, Television, TV, William Shatner 1 CommentVia Twitter – ClassicPics @History_Pics