Horrifyingly Mad: More than 50 Years of Classic Strips to Scare you Silly! by Mad Staff

by Joe Raiola (Contributor)

Zombies always want "more brains!"...
but you don't need any brains to enjoy Horrifyingly MAD, a collection of classic material from MAD Magazine spoofing all things horrifying.

MAD Magazine is renowned for verbose and meaningless back-cover copy on its special book projects. Its editors take great pride in using many, many, unnecessary words to say absolutely nothing when, in fact, fewer or no words would accomplish the exact same thing.

Genres: Humor, Horror, Comics

392 pages, Hardcover

First published August 11, 2011

Reviews

[C. J. Scurria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great. It has many MAD movie spoofs as well as some that just make fun of concepts or clichés in movies ("Hoohah" and "Arbor Day" are probably the only examples). It also contains other articles as well that make fun of scary movies or themes their own ways. The only thing I will complain about this book is that it should have contained some kind of index that told you what movies they were spoofing because some I never got what they were (also interesting to note, this was probably a common complaint with readers since other MAD collections like this tell next to the title what the original source was). And people shouldn't expect a well-written intro or other kind of section of the book as it is deliberately lazy (and I actually didn't find those jokes very funny). But all around this feels like a good chunk of MAD history and it is one that will keep you laughing.

[David James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun. The best stuff, of course, comes from the early days when the great Harvey Kurtzman was at the helm and Mad was, among other things, gleefully spoofing the horror line at its own publisher, EC Comics. There was also a literary sense at this time that departed with Kurtzman and was never quite been regained. That said, the movie spoofs found in this book are generally brilliant (and why is it that the jokes about bad acting never wear thin?), and the artwork is consistently clever. The other pieces are hit and miss, which is how it has long been at Mad. But on balance, it made for some great late night reading these past few months, especially when I found myself rereading pieces I could still remember from my Mad heyday back in the seventies. There's a damned good reason why Mad Magazine remains an American cultural institution (in fact, quite a few reasons), and even with the topical focus, it's on clear display here.

[Manwithpez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is really the difference between classic, and horribly dated. If you remember MAD magazine with nostalgia, then, by all means, go for it. Otherwise this will not be anything new for you, and you should probably leave it on the shelf.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the cover.

http://mad.blog.dccomics.com/2011/09/...


Several contributions to my caricature art hero, Mort Drucker!

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mad's E.C. comics roots show in these loving horror movie parodies and comics.