Tom's Mad Blog
August 26th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Welcome to another edition of Monday MADness, where we continue or seemingly endless trek through the dreck that was my work for MAD Magazine! Do not despair! Sadly, this dreck trek is far from endless, and we are starting to near the end. But first, we revisit the first issue of the MAD Magazine “reboot”, which was the first issue produced entirely by the new Burbank based staff and which featured not one but two full length spoofs with art by me. We took a look at the first one last week, a parody of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” that appeared near the front of… READ MORE
August 21st, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
In a rare break from tradition, this original sketch is still available in the Studio Store! FOOD FIGHT! John Belushi had a tragically short career in film (and life). He was only a headliner in five films, and two of them were major duds (“Continental Divide” and “Neighbors”).”1941″ was bizarre and his unhinged WWII fighter pilot didn’t have much screen time, but he made the most of that one. “The Blues Brothers” is certainly the high point of his brief cinematic career, but his turn as John “Bluto” Blutarsky in “Animal House” is classic. The “food fight” scene is on many “Top 100 Movie Scenes”… READ MORE
August 19th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Well kids, we are now in to the last days of MAD on our excruciatingly long journey through my work with the magazine. At this point in our timeline (early 2018) the New York version of MAD has packed up their veeblefetzers and rode off into the sunset, and the Burbank staff has fired up their poiuyts and started over with a brand new MAD #1. I did the art for not one but TWO full length parodies, one of a movie and one of a TV show (with a little throwback fun thrown in). The first feature that I did that appeared in MAD… READ MORE
August 14th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We’re back to our “Famous Movie Moments” series, this time revisiting 1994’s “Forrest Gump” with Tom Hanks on his park bench with his suitcase, box of chocolates, and the feather. Hanks has one of those faces that’s hard to “unlock”, partly because he’s such a great actor that his “presence” can change considerably role to role. That makes it hard to grab hold of an expression that reads as undeniably “him”. As Forrest Gump, he often had a slightly confused and somewhat vacant look on his face, which is what I was going for here. READ MORE
August 12th, 2024 | Posted in MAD Magazine
It’s been a long time since I did one of these… I’ll bet you wish it was even longer! It’s time for another step on that dreary chronological drudge through my work for MAD Magazine. We are at the moment where MAD published its final issue produced by the New York Staff, MAD #550, April 2018. At the time this issue hit the newsstands, there had not been any official announcement that the next issue of MAD , the first produced by the new staff in Burbank headed up by new MAD editor Bill Morrison, would be a new #1 or continue the numbering and… READ MORE
August 7th, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Not exactly a “famous movie moment” in the category of “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” or “Here’s looking at you, kid”, but it’s one I think of now and then… especially at certain events. “Revenge of the Nerds” was a goofy movie but it had some great characters. Donald Gibb played the dim-witted Alpha-Beta frat jock Fred “Ogre” Palowoski, who famously hated nerds. This moment from the movie plays in my head a lot during comic cons… I don’t know why. READ MORE
August 5th, 2024 | Posted in News
I just got back from teaching a workshop in the Chicago area. It was a great group and we had a fun time drawing together all weekend! I’ve only got two open spots in my remaining 2024 workshops, one here in Minnesota and one in Phoenix. I just announced my first one for 2025 in Tampa, FL, and there will be a handful more in 2025. Reserve a spot ASAP before they sell out! READ MORE
July 31st, 2024 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Giants of entertainment keep dropping like flies lately. Just when I thought we would be getting back to our “Famous Movie Moments” series another legend passes. Bob Newhart was a favorite in my family. I listened to his comedy albums as a kid, and I remember watching “The Bob Newhart Show” with my parents in the mid 70’s. The later show “Newhart” was a favorite of mine as a young adult in the mid to late 80s. Both those shows were great successes and long running, popular sitcoms. He also starred in a couple of short-lived, mostly forgotten shows, but those hardly diminished his legacy.… READ MORE
