above: a contemporary MAD cover; as if you ever doubted that!
I first encountered MAD Magazine in early 1971, and although I was intruiged by much of the contents of this impressive-but-bewildering USA import satire mag, I kept returning to it [this one solitary copy, which I only just re-located this very week, a staggering 41 years later] despite the fact that it's intentions appeared a complete mystery.
In 1971, I was very much hooked on unpretentious UK comics humour, of the SPARKY/BEANO/COR!! variety, and MAD looked beamed in from another planet in comparison: it's hard-hitting satire and disrespect for authority went clean over my then-young noggin, nevertheless, I knew that this mag had something: absolute ace cartoons for a kick-off, especially Prohias' SPY versus SPY, an extremely aggressive, sadistically-violent 'uber-slapstick' piece.
MAD was remarkable inasmuch that this was the first time I ever saw cartoon characters bleed or indeed torn limb-from-limb, [Beano caught up with this aspect a decade or three later] and I instinctively knew this mag was aimed more at 'adults'. It also contained absolutely sterling caricature portraits and biting, stinging satire against media celebrities and politicians.
This one 1971 copy was the only time I actually examined the magazine in detail for about another 15 years: nevertheless, many MAD reprints [in small paperback form] festooned many a city bookshop of the 70s and 80s, and I often flicked through them:
above: the British variation of Son of Mad paperback
MAD often returned to my thoughts, and it certainly seemed head-and-shoulders above it's nearest UK equivalent: the satire mag PUNCH, which although sharing a similar satirical outlook, seemed much less exuberant and entertaining than the no-holds-barred MAD, which made Punch seem stuffy, restrained and relegated to the dentist's waiting room in comparison.
