The drawing above is the very first panel of the very first Mad magazine strip cartoon by Don Martin (1931-2000), "Mad's Maddest Artist." For those of you who are familiar with Mad and with Martin, you'll notice that the style of this image (from Mad's 29th issue, published September 1956) is noticeably different from the trademark "hinge-foot" formula he perfected much later on. In fact, the early Don Martin stuff is very, very strange compared to the toned-down work he ended up doing for the bulk of his career. It's, well, evil. (There's no other way to put it.) In fact, notwithstanding the beautifully-executed drawings and the fascinating early drafting style, it's downright horrifying..which makes it a perfect topic for you guys.
Ten years ago I bought the CD-ROM collection of Mad Magazine (a 7-disc set that collects the entire run of the magazine through 1998 into a complete searchable library). Anyway, drawing on the thousands of pages in that collection, I've assembled a gallery of 32 of the early, extremely evil Don Martin cartoons from the 1950s, because I'm amazed at how beautiful and evil and nasty they are (compared to the toothless stuff he was doing later, in the 'Seventies, when I first encountered his work). A lot of the way-early Mad stuff was collected into those ubiquitous paperbacks that were all over the place back then, and I remember seeing early Don Martin stuff that actually gave me nightmares. Anyway, enjoy! (My favorite's "The Suicide.")
http://www.jordanorlando.com/donmartin
13 comments:
lots of fun. i've always loved don martin.
Jordan thanks so much for posting this. I'm a MAD fan from way back as well and even now often times can't resist the urge and pick one up on a whim.
Although Don Martin is not my favorite MAD artist, Sergio Aragonés holds that place in my heart, the spread you've assembled of early Martin works is fantastic. Had he kept that style perhaps he would have been at the top of my list. I too was unfamiliar with this early style of his and the harshness is really delightful in a Horrorthony kind of way. Thanks again :)
That's why I love you guys! I knew the seed would fall on fertile ground.
Catfreeek, I wasted about an hour last night reading nothing but Sergio Aragonés "A MAD look at" strips, so I know exactly what you mean. He's just a genius with that stuff.
The worst has got to be Dave Berg.
Mort Drucker, who's been drawing most of the movie parodies for decades, is a genius, however. He fills the panels with so much crazy nonsense.
Totally agree, it takes me forever to read a MAD cause I don't want to miss anything. There are so many things going on inside the panels. I read it cover to cover and then go back and slowly go through Sergio Aragonés tiny scenes on the sides of the pages. Saving the best for last. I'm always happy to see that after all these years MAD's still got it, you know.
My favorite part of the CD-ROM collection is the first twenty issues or so, back when it was a regular comic book (in color!) and most of the artwork was by Wally Wood, Bill Elder, and Jack Davis. Those comics ("Humor in a Jugular Vein") got reprinted as inserts in some of the late-70s "Super Specials" that I used to have. Bill Elder called his style "Chicken Fat" -- that was his way of describing all the ridiculous crap filling the panels.
Here's an excerpt from Bill Elder's "Shermlock Shomes" feature (October-November 1953), containing one of my favorite gags. There were two "Shermlock Shomes" stories (including "The Hound of the Basketballs") that beautifully exemplify Elder's insanely cluttered, fast-paces style, in which everything seems to be moving at a breakneck speed and ridiculous craziness is exploding from every direction.
Here's the entire Shermlock Shomes story as a downloadable .pdf (right click and say "Save Target As...").
I've got every page of every issue. I love technology...
My brothers introduced me to MAD, I remember finding one of their magazines and feeling like I was reading something that I wasn't supposed to be reading. I was hooked on it ever since.
Love the Shermlock Shomes strips.
One of my favorite Sergio Aragonés toons ~~~> http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2046/2505856728_338a523c75.jpg
Jordan, I've always wondered about purchasing cd roms of print material. In particular I've been intrigued by comic book cd roms, which often contain the entire run of a series. What has always held me back is that I've never been sure that I would be able to read comic books on my computer, that somehow some satisfaction would be lost. I know you're a completest so I'm certain you poured through all 7 of those Mad Magazine dics. Would you recommend it or would you rather own the real thing?
JPX, I'm torn on this question.
On the one hand, I love paper books, comics etc. I think that's the natural way to read this stuff; I'd hate to give it up (and I'd hate to give up my comic book collection).
On the other hand, it's a pain in the ass! Bags and boards and stacks of comics, and boxes in the closet, and the difficulty of finding the particular issue you're looking for.
When it comes to normal comics, I admit that I've got megabytes and megabytes of comics in .cbz and .cbr format. You don't need to buy anything; they're traded on the internet, and there are plenty of shareware readers you can buy. It's a fine way to go.
The MAD Magazine collection is a little different because it's a professional affair with its own proprietary software. That means that I can actually search for Don Martin or make bookmarks or rotate the page upside down or sideways or even "fold" the Mad Fold-Ins (which is hilarious). Broderbund Software went to tremendous trouble to make a good CD-ROM system for reading Mad, and I'd much rather have this than an actual warehouse or closet filled with thousands of MAD magazines. I could NEVER have gotten these Don Martin strip comics together like I did if I had a physical collection of MAD issues. I'd have to know where to look, go get each issue, scan it, etc. etc. etc. I'm getting tired just thinking about it.
I think there's a more recent edition of MAD on digital media than the 10-year-old one I've got. I'm not sure. Anyway, like I said, it's a real question.
These are amazing, and the evil ones are complete terra incognita for me. I think it's interesting how by The Suicide he's already evolved to the angly physicality that would be his lifelong trademark -- but cripes! Those earlier ones are so full of rage! Very weird.
Yeah! Octopunk!
Something else I've always liked about Don Martin: It always impresses me when somebody is just such a badass (or an architect) that their company or gig is named after them.
For example, when the Beatles formed a record company they called it Apple (which would be litigious much later on, all the way into this decade, because of the computer company). Other bands recorded on Apple Records through the years. But what's the Rolling Stones' record company called? "Rolling Stones Records."
Another example: Spielberg's production company is called "Amblin Entertainment." Coppola's production company is called "Zoetrope." Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's production company (yes, they have a production company, and it still exists and makes them a fortune -- it's good to be a movie star, even with a painful divorce) is called "Plan B." So, what was Kubrick's production company called? "Stanley Kubrick." When the titles say "A Stanley Kubrick Production," they mean the company. When Spielberg finished Kubrick's "AI" project, the opening titles said "Universal Pictures Presents"/"An Amblin Entertainment / Stanley Kubrick Production."
Mad Magazine has "departments." So, Spy vs. Spy is always the "Joke and Dagger Dept." "The Lighter Side of..." is always "Berg's-Eye View Dept.. Sergio Aragonés stuff is always "Marginal Thinking Dept."
And what's Don Martin's stuff? "Don Martin Dept." Of course.
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