Tom's Mad Blog

MADness #132- Mary Poppins!

November 18th, 2024 | Posted in General

Monday AGAIN?? Here we go with yet another step on the crooked path of mediocrity that was my work for MAD Magazine. This week we look back at a kinda-sorta movie parody (but not really) from MAD #6, written by Ian Boothby. This piece was done right as “Mary Poppins Returns” starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda was released. It’s not a parody of the movie but an original story using the characters. That does not count as an actual movie parody of course. It’s a political feature. I happen to have full scans of the final inks of this splash because I had the… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week: Rutger Hauer!

November 13th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

When Desmond Devlin and I decided to do CLAPTRAP Des made a list of significant films that MAD never did a parody of for one reason or another. There was one movie I knew would be on that list, and it was the one movie I insisted we include in the book- Ridley Scott‘s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece “Blade Runner”. Actually I did not have to work very hard to convince Des to do it, the movie was high on his list as well. Why didn’t MAD spoof “Blade Runner”? No one knows for sure but it’s likely because the movie didn’t do all that well… READ MORE

MAD About Mullets!

November 11th, 2024 | Posted in News

My pals (and fellow former presidents of the National Cartoonists Society) Steve McGarry and Rick Stromoski have collected their short lived but insanely funny syndicated comic strip “Mullets” into a single volume book. Here’s the elevator pitch: Mullets by Steve McGarry and Rick Stromoski with special guest Luke McGarry They say write about what you know … so Steve McGarry and Rick Stromoski created a comic strip about two idiots. Meet Kevin and Scab, two mulleted morons employed at Mildew’s Hardware Store by Kevin’s long-suffering dad, Kenneth. There’s Britney, the Goddess of Register Three and the object of Scab’s unrequited love, and Old George, who… READ MORE

MADness #131: A Christmas Story!

November 11th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine

Here we go with another stumble down the icy path that was my work for MAD Magazine. This week we revisit the first (and only) entry of a great feature idea for the freshly rebooted MAD, “Movies MAD Missed!” Her’s MAD’s spoof of “A Christmas Story” written by my CLAPTRAP co-conspirator Desmond Devlin and first appearing in MAD #5, Feb 2019. Wait, isn’t this movie almost 40 years old? MAD just got around to doing a parody in 2019? As Ralphie’s dad might say… What the $%#@&*©#$@!??!. Here’s the story of how this came about. Back when Bill Morrison was about to take over as… READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week: Harvey Kurtzman!

November 6th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

About a month ago (October 3rd to be exact), would have been the 100th birthday of the legendary creator of MAD, cartoonist, writer and editor Harvey Kurtzman. So I decided to take a breather from the “Famous Movie Moments” series and draw Harvey. Just to do something different I did this one using brush pens! READ MORE

New 2025 Workshop… Las Vegas!

October 31st, 2024 | Posted in News

Just added to the 2025 workshop lineup: Las Vegas, NV! With a limit of 12 students, these workshops almost always sell out, so don’t wait around to book your spot! READ MORE

Sketch o’the Week: Jamie Lee Curtis!

October 30th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week

This original is still available in the Studio Store! Jamie Lee Curtis came by her “Scream Queen” moniker honestly. Her role in John Carpenter‘s 1978 “Halloween” began a whole new genre of scream queens/slasher films, but it was already “in her blood” you could say… and not the blood she left in the hallway in the movie! Her mother was Janet Leigh, one of the stars of Alfred Hitchcock‘s horror classic “Psycho”, and one of the original scream queens. READ MORE

MADness #130- Svengoolie!

October 28th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine

Here we go with another edition of Monday MADness, where we continue our shambling lurch down the Trail of Terrible that was my work for MAD Magazine. I timed this post for Halloween week for obvious reasons. This week we look back at “Sven Golly… It’s Svengoolie!”, written by Ian Boothby and first appearing in MAD #4, Dec 2018. This is an interesting feature because it’s not technically a parody of the “Svengoolie” TV show. They use his actual name instead of a spoof version like “Svengoofy”, so it can’t be a parody. Instead it’s played like an actual episode of the show, the gag… READ MORE

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