GainesCritiques

It's 1952 and a weird magazine has appeared on the newsstands. Part of the EC publication line, it's a strange magazine with a silly-looking cover- a cartoon drawing of a man, woman and baby up against the wall of a darkened torture chamber, and scared out of their wits by something we can't see. And displayed in two-inch tall letters across the page is the word "MAD."
So begins a series of monthly issues of the world's most famous humor magazine, one that will enjoy a seventy-one-year reign.
In the beginning, Mad provided send-ups of every genre: well-known books, stories, movies, TV shows, comic strips and poetry.
In the debut issue, tales of terror, westerns, science fiction and crime noir are lampooned. From December 1952 - March 1953, Tarzan, Dragnet, and the Lone Ranger are dragged through the satirical mud, along with professional baseball, more sci-fi and crime, as well as stories about vampires and the Sheik of Araby.
For fans of Mad magazine, this 1997 reprint of the original series is a treat- a nostalgic treasure trove for existing fans, and a new voyage of discovery for those unfamiliar with the artistic talents of Bill Elder, Jack Davis, John Severin, and Wallace Wood.