Mad's Al Jaffee Freaks Out

by Al Jaffee

Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Allan Jaffee was an American cartoonist. He was notable for his work in the satirical magazine Mad, including his trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine for 65 years and is its longest-running contributor. In a 2010 interview, Jaffee said, "Serious people my age are dead."
With a career running from 1942 until 2020, Jaffee holds the Guinness World Record for having the longest career as a comic artist. In the half-century between April 1964 and April 2013, only one issue of Mad was published without containing new material by Jaffee.
In 2008, Jaffee was honored by the Reuben Awards as the Cartoonist of the Year. Cartoonist Arnold Roth of The New Yorker said, "Al Jaffee is one of the great cartoonists of our time." Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz wrote, "Al can cartoon anything."

Reviews

[Rich Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

While about twenty years too late to cash in on the "freak out" subculture, Al Jaffee does provide some very funny moments in this paperback. Al's got a unique artistic style and sensibility that allows him to pretty much do anything remotely funny and it will come out looking both a) great and b) funnier than most other artists could've made it.

Like Don Martin, Al learned to shine in this abbreviated comic format, using each page as a single panel of a story or gag. If you're a fan of Mad, at least as it was when Max Gaines published it, this is a great book to add to your collection.