Tom's Mad Blog
April 19th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The second parody I drew for the new MAD #1 was different than your typical MAD spoof. Ostensibly it is a parody of the CW show “Riverdale”, but it begins as a sort of sequel to Bill Elder‘s famous “Starchie” parody from MAD #12 way back in 1954. Ian Boothby‘s script required me to draw in Bill Elder’s style for the first three pages, before “Starchie” and “Bottleneck” are sent forward in time to Riverdale (uh… I mean Riverdull) 2017. From then on it’s my usual style featuring caricatures of the “Riverdale” cast. Here are sample panels from this nine page extravaganza: The above is… READ MORE
April 18th, 2018 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Deadlines and still being sick is kicking my ass, so here’s a flashback sketch from 2011 of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Graytones were added digitally as this one appeared in my book. READ MORE
April 17th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Here’s a sneak peek of my art from the first of two parodies I did for the new MAD, “Star Bores: Half Assed Jedi” written by Desmond Devlin. The splash page art above includes some digital work I did on the “scroll” of text, which new MAD art director Suzy Hutchinson improved upon in the final printed version. Below are a few panels from the story pages. Huh? Whaddaya mean you want to “read the jokes”? What do you think this is, a furshlugginer library?!? Go out and buy a copy of MAD #1, clod! It’s on news stands TODAY! READ MORE
April 16th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
In comic books shops now, in subscriber mailboxes and via digital format TBD, on news stands (all 16 of them left) everywhere tomorrow! Cover– (Jason Edmiston) ToC (Art by Harvey Kurtzman) Star Bores: Half-Assed Jedi (Desmond Devlin, Tom Richmond) A MAD Look at Harassment (Sergio Aragonés, Colors: Carrie Strachan) Make America Greet Again (Teresa Burns Parkhurst) Spy vs Spy (Peter Kuper) The Wisenheim Museum (Ron English) Potrzebie Comics Cover (Kerry Callen) It’s Bring Your Sidekick to Work Day! (Kerry Callen) The 27 Club (Luke McGarry) Boonies, Burbs and Burgs (Bob Fingerman) MAD’s Movie Mogul Guide (Mary Trainor) Pop Culture that Didn’t Make it into Ready… READ MORE
April 15th, 2018 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When someone is hired to do a caricature of a famous person for a client (say Mad magazine), do they need permission of the copyright holder of the photo they are using for reference? I imagine a lot of your caricatures came from a photo or screenshot originally. A: The specifics of a certain case will always play into it, but in general no… a caricaturist does not need the permission of the copyright holder of a reference photo they work from to do a caricature from it. One of the rules that the courts use in determining what is copyright infringement and what… READ MORE
April 13th, 2018 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Bleeding Cool reported earlier this week that: Due to an error, today, comic book retailers got the newly relaunched and rebooted MAD Magazine a week earlier than they should have done. And no one realized. I’ve been contributing to MAD for what will be 18 years this October, and for that entire nearly two decades this has been the release schedule of an issue: Official Newsstand release date= “Tues the XX of YY” Comic Book Shops: For sale the Wednesday BEFORE “Tues the XX of YYr” Newsstands: Tues the XX of YY iPad: Unpredictable. Sometimes earlier than comic shops, sometimes the week before newsstand Mail In… READ MORE
April 12th, 2018 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
The past three weekends in a row I appeared at comic cons in Anaheim CA, Indianapolis IN, and Chicago IL, respectively. It was exhausting and I got really sick before going down to Chicago, so that last one was a rough weekend. I still had a lot of fun, though, and thank you to all who took the time to come up, say hello and to chat. During one of the many conversations I had with folks, my time at Cracked got brought up. I did four parodies for Cracked back in late 1999/early 2000. All the time I was doing work for them I… READ MORE
April 11th, 2018 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
More 60’s Batvillains! Here is legendary film star Tallulah Bankhead as “Black Widow”. Original as always available in the Studio Store. BatFacts: Some sources credit Miss Bankhead’s appearance on “Batman” as her last actual “performance”, which could be considered true depending on your definition of “performance”. The episodes she appeared in aired in March of 1967, but she appeared on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in December of 1967 in a skit, and on “The Tonight Show” as co-interviewer of John Lennon and Paul McCartney alongside fill in host Joe Garagiola in May of 1968. She died December 12th, 1968. READ MORE
