Tom's Mad Blog
June 14th, 2007 | Posted in General
In October of 1990 The Lovley Anna and our baby girl Elizabeth moved back home to the Twin Cities in Minnesota from Atlanta, where I had been managing a caricature operation for Fasen Arts at Six Flags Atlanta. The next summer I opened up my own caricature concession operation at Valleyfair, a local theme park southwest of Minneapolis. This summer will be our 17th season at Valleyfair. The booth above was built in 1993 as our third location in the park. I worked there yesterday on an unseasonably sweltering day. Here are a few of the live ones I did. They aren’t really very good…… READ MORE
June 13th, 2007 | Posted in News
A few years ago Jeannie Schulz, widow of cartooning legend Charles Schulz, and the then curator of Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA, kindly invited me to speak there as part of a special show they were having. They were doing a “MAD About Peanuts” exhibit featuring original artwork from all the MAD Magazine parodies and goofs they had done of Peanuts over the years. There were a surprising number of them… Peanuts must have been well loved among the Usual Gang of Idiots as only that would garner such attention. I did a presentation in the auditorium and taught two workshops on caricature… READ MORE
June 12th, 2007 | Posted in General
Golden Moldy oldie from MAD circa 2002 Sunday night The Lovely Anna and I are sitting in our home theater, ready to watch the series finale of “The Sopranos“. Since we never seem to sit down together to watch a TV show (she couldn’t care less for “Lost” or “Heroes”, and I can’t stand “Desperate Housewives” or “Ugly Betty”), the fact that we are both there and looking forward to the final episode means it’s a bona-fide event. We enjoy the fantastic dialog and the wit (the cat staring at Chrissy’s picture and Paulie’s reactions were hilarious) combined with sudden and shocking violence (Phil’s death… READ MORE
June 11th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Two years ago there were some rumors about an HBO biopic in the works about the life of MAD and EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines. There was even the following blurb via Reuters: LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Betty Thomas is attached to direct an original HBO film about William M. Gaines, the eccentric founder of Mad Magazine. Based on the book “Mad World of William M. Gaines” by Frank Jacobs, the project is in the early stages of development at the cable channel. Thomas (“I Spy”) worked with HBO on the 1996 film “The Late Shift.” Reuters/Hollywood Reporter ??á©Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved Like… READ MORE
June 10th, 2007 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Has any celebrity you’ve drawn ever gotten angry over their caricature? A: I haven’t directly heard from anyone who was upset with the way I drew them, but indirectly I’ve been told twice about such a reaction. The first had nothing to do with MAD. Back in 1994 the Superbowl was held in Atlanta, GA., and the media was crawling all over the city. The Tonight Show did several live remotes with an on-the-spot reporter during the week of the game. One day they did their remote from Underground Atlanta, where I have a retail caricature operation. They set up right next to our… READ MORE
June 9th, 2007 | Posted in General
This month a local magazine did a story on me and my family for their summer issue. It seems odd that a small, suburban town like Burnsville, MN would have it’s own (and extremely professional) glossy magazine. It turns out many suburban towns have similar publications… the publisher that produces Burnsville Magazine does other magazines for several other Twin Citie’s suburbs like Woodbury and Eden Prairie. They are very well done, but likley too small a budget to be a potential client for a freelance illustrator. The story is several pages and describes my work, my background and my family, including a little about my… READ MORE
June 8th, 2007 | Posted in MAD Magazine
MAD is always offering premiums (i.e. toys or other collectibles) to entice new subscribers. In the past that’s meant Alfred keycahins, MAD decks of cards, pins and other goodies. Right now they are offering a unique and pretty cool premium with a new subscription… a mint copy of MAD # 166, the cover of which is shown above. This issue has a sorted and lurid history. According to Franks Jacob‘s book MAD: Cover to Cover: “What started as an in-house joke, the premise for this cover was determined “usable”. The tag line for this “finger cover” originally read: “MAD- Always Number One in Good Taste!”… READ MORE
June 7th, 2007 | Posted in General
Three of the TV shows I watch regularly… okay the only TV shows I watch regularly… have or are wrapping up for the season. I was so busy in the week leading up to my Orlando trip I was unable to watch the season finales of “Heroes” or “Lost” until well after the airdates, but I did get to see them eventually. “The Sopranos” is having it’s grand series finale on Sunday. Here are some thoughts on the shows: SPOILERS AHEAD!! Heroes- I have to say I was a little disappointed in the finale. I thought it was all building up to a knock down-drag… READ MORE
