Tom's Mad Blog
February 12th, 2021 | Posted in News
Yesterday my pal and writer extraordinaire Mark Evanier shared the not exactly unexpected news that the Wondercon 2021 comic convention will not take place as a live three day event in Anaheim CA as previously scheduled March 26-28th, but will be a two day virtual event instead on Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, 2021. Again, not exactly a shocker, but I believe this will be the first major comic book convention that has seen its in-person event cancelled TWICE since the pandemic began. I fear it won’t be the last. I would have attended Wondercon as I usually do, so I am planning… READ MORE
February 11th, 2021 | Posted in Illustration Throwback Thursday
I did this back in 2016 after “Superman v Batman” Dawn of Justice” came out… just for fun. It was a satirical commentary on how director Zack Snyder can take all the fun and joy out of virtually anything. I pitched it to MAD for the Fundalini Pages but they didn’t go for it, so I just posted in online. Here it is again about 5 years later, with an update! READ MORE
February 10th, 2021 | Posted in Daily Coronacature
Here’s my caricature of Jeff Bridges for today’s “The Daily Coronacature”. Original available in the Studio Store. This is another example of the type of sketch you’ll be getting in your pre-order copy of CLAPTRAP if you are a “Schmendrick” level backer and choose “The Big Lebowski” as the parody you want a character sketch from. You get to choose any of the 12 movies we are spoofing in the book as where you want the sketch to come from. I will have at least one character from each to choose from, in some cases two. Only 14 of these “Schmendrick” sketch editions remain! READ MORE
February 9th, 2021 | Posted in News
Former MAD art director and longtime MAD artist Sam Viviano announced his “The Jaffee Project” last week, which is a little something he’s graciously put together to celebrate the great Al Jaffee‘s upcoming 100th birthday on March 13th. Given the pandemic, we can’t very well do this the way we’d like, with a Times Square parade, so Sam thought some ingenuity was required. Sam’s idea was to give everyone a place to send their birthday wishes to Al, and then Sam will put them together and schlep them over to Al’s place. I have a feeling Sam may need to rent a Uhaul from the… READ MORE
February 8th, 2021 | Posted in MAD Magazine
MAD #415 contained my 12th job for the magazine, a spoof of the film “Behind Enemy Lines” starring Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson, written by Dick DeBartolo. The issue was dated March 2002, but the art was done in December of 2001. This was the first movie parody I drew that was written by Dick, and the script was both funny and pretty vicious! The only thing I remember about working on this one was having a really tough time drawing Gene Hackman, and looking back at it now I still don’t like many of the caricatures of him I did. Actually this is one… READ MORE
February 7th, 2021 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Looking at your regular caricatures, how long would it normally take to do a single pencil caricature? A: Ah, the age old question. The answer is always: that depends. Live Caricature For one person in black and white graphite/shading, I usually take between 6-8 minutes to do one. That’s not very fast by live caricature artists standards, bit that’s my typical time. I can do it faster if I’m pressed or in a particular groove, say 4-5 minutes, but those are considerably less detailed. I may that up to 12-15 minutes on one if it contains a more elaborate environment or situation. Here’s a… READ MORE
February 6th, 2021 | Posted in General
Like the rest of Planet Earth I was saddened to hear of the passing of acting legend Christopher Plummer yesterday. What a legacy he left, though. Few actors can boast a career as long and storied as he had. He was still turning in great performances after 70 years of acting… he won a “Best Supporting Actor” Oscar at age 82, and was nominated again at age 89! I loved him in “Knives Out”. He also played the Great Detective in “Murder by Decree” in 1979, and made my Sherlock Holmes lineup: RIP… READ MORE
February 5th, 2021 | Posted in News
Next month is Al Jaffee‘s 100th birthday, which doesn’t come around too often… for anybody, let alone one of the world’s greatest cartoonists. To celebrate, longtime MAD artist and former MAD art director Sam Viviano is putting together a little project for AL. This from Sam’s Instagram feed: SPECIAL POST! Next month. Al Jaffee, dean of MAD’s Usual Gang of Idiots, will observe his 100th birthday. Yes, Al Jaffee, creator of the Fold-In, “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” and more insane inventions than you can count, will be 100 years old on March 13. In normal times, we’d throw a huge party for Al, and… READ MORE
