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MAD's Greatest Artists
MAD's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragonés
For over five decades, MAD Magazine has kept devoted audiences in stitches with its consistently excellent and surprisingly relevant satire. From the witty, shameless writing to the amusing, colorful comic illustrations, MAD is a timeless American classic. For the first time ever, here is a “greatest hits” collection of one of MAD 's most popular and prolific artists—Sergio Aragonés—hand-picked by the artist and featuring his greatest work from his debut with MAD in 1963 to the present. Assembled chronologically, it's packed with memorable cartoons, insightful interviews, new cover artwork commissioned for this book, and a special pull-out poster of Sergio's “Marginals,” the wildly popular mini-cartoons that have appeared in MAD 's margins for over 40 years.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 5, 2010
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229 people want to read
About the author
Sergio Aragonés
576 books97 followersSergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 25, 2016
Somewhat over-sized compared to regular comic books but perfectly proportioned for the coffee table, this anthology of Sergio Aragonés' "Best Of" is a real treat. This is not a book to read through in one sitting, but rather one to enjoy - dare I say savour? - a few pages at a time. Besides, if you go too fast you might miss some of the many sight gags.
For those of you who have yet to discover Sergio Aragonés, this book is probably your best way to go about it. And for those of you who know Sergio, owning this book should be a no-brainer.
For those of you who have yet to discover Sergio Aragonés, this book is probably your best way to go about it. And for those of you who know Sergio, owning this book should be a no-brainer.
May 4, 2018
Got to be one of the greatest all time cartoonists. I can't believe how much MAD I read when I was a kid, because 90% of this material was familiar. I guess they re-ran a lot of stuff back in the day(?)
Other magazines should try that. Just throw a new cover on TIME and put some old shit in there. Or The New Yorker. I bet nobody would notice. In fact, that would make for an awesome bet. Rerun an entire issue cobbled together from old issues, stuff that never made a big splash, and see if anyone notices. I feel like nobody would. How would they? Is someone out there running The New Yorker through software that makes sure it's not plagiarized? Some random subscriber? Or are people just putting it on the back of the toilet?
The real question, once the deed was done, how long do you wait to tell someone?
Other magazines should try that. Just throw a new cover on TIME and put some old shit in there. Or The New Yorker. I bet nobody would notice. In fact, that would make for an awesome bet. Rerun an entire issue cobbled together from old issues, stuff that never made a big splash, and see if anyone notices. I feel like nobody would. How would they? Is someone out there running The New Yorker through software that makes sure it's not plagiarized? Some random subscriber? Or are people just putting it on the back of the toilet?
The real question, once the deed was done, how long do you wait to tell someone?
December 23, 2017
5 stars for 5 decades. It’s amazing to me how prolific Aragones has been. To come up with ideas that are funny for so many years is the mark of true talent. And almost all of the humor is conveyed without words. There are virtually no aspects of life that are left unexamined. And, just as in the pages of Mad magazine, it has the little Aragones drawings in the margins.
Equally amazing is how timeless most of these cartoons are. I was watching the funny TV series Life in Pieces and they did a gag about getting a stupid present as a wedding gift, which they exchanged for the credit. But the joke is about how the parents put a bunch of cash inside, picking a dumb gift on purpose. I immediately recognized that as a Sergio Aragones cartoon from the 1970s. Sure enough, it’s here, just as I remembered it. 40-some years later, people are still merely repeating Aragones’ jokes.
Equally amazing is how timeless most of these cartoons are. I was watching the funny TV series Life in Pieces and they did a gag about getting a stupid present as a wedding gift, which they exchanged for the credit. But the joke is about how the parents put a bunch of cash inside, picking a dumb gift on purpose. I immediately recognized that as a Sergio Aragones cartoon from the 1970s. Sure enough, it’s here, just as I remembered it. 40-some years later, people are still merely repeating Aragones’ jokes.
December 26, 2011
This book allows us to see the wide-reaching, strange, and detail-driven body of work Aragones has developed while working for MAD Magazine.
Where would MAD bee without Aragones' drawings filled with naked butts and ironic punchlines? Aragones' work isn't always funny, or politically correct, or appropriate. But it is always captivating in detail. There's something really "working stiff" about his sometimes jittery, goofiness. This book offers a chronological view of Aragones' evolution with MAD. We get to see "A Mad Look At..." and the "Lighter Side of...", among other popular recurring themed features. And, of course, these is an exploration of what has come to be know as "the Marginals". These are his tiny,zany, mini cartoons that populate the margins and borders of just about every page of MAD magazine.
Personally, I've always enjoyed Aragones' work. As a kid the, "Marginals" were such a treat. I didn't always get the jokes but I liked that these small, special episodes were there. I loved how they really made me pay attention to all of the issues of MAD. As an adult I find them to be mostly funny, ironic, sometimes sexist, sometimes weirdly sad, but still always enjoyable.
Where would MAD bee without Aragones' drawings filled with naked butts and ironic punchlines? Aragones' work isn't always funny, or politically correct, or appropriate. But it is always captivating in detail. There's something really "working stiff" about his sometimes jittery, goofiness. This book offers a chronological view of Aragones' evolution with MAD. We get to see "A Mad Look At..." and the "Lighter Side of...", among other popular recurring themed features. And, of course, these is an exploration of what has come to be know as "the Marginals". These are his tiny,zany, mini cartoons that populate the margins and borders of just about every page of MAD magazine.
Personally, I've always enjoyed Aragones' work. As a kid the, "Marginals" were such a treat. I didn't always get the jokes but I liked that these small, special episodes were there. I loved how they really made me pay attention to all of the issues of MAD. As an adult I find them to be mostly funny, ironic, sometimes sexist, sometimes weirdly sad, but still always enjoyable.
July 24, 2016
An expansive overview of decades of work by Sergio Aragones, a gifted comedian and talented artist, who tells hilarious jokes using no words and a single picture.
September 8, 2011
Sergio Aragones is literally a part of childhood, sitting under the wooden steps of Hobby Corner leafing through old comics while deciding which one to pick up, a tiny aquarium bubbling away on the counter, and me lost in a dozen fantasy worlds... MAD magazine was something that kept getting better with age because I understood more and more of the jokes, but the Marginals were always classic. They were funny, they were always understandable and they always would emerge as a sudden, unexpected delight from the corners of a page, timeless little pieces of buried treasure.
October 8, 2010
It's Sergio and his silent cartoons from his debut in the 60s to the new century. That's almost five decades worth of work with "the usual gang of idiots" at MAD Magazine.
Collected in an oversized hardcover edition, this book is not as heavy as the previous "MAD's Greatest Artists: Don Martin" collection. At least this one is read-in-bed-friendly.
Collected in an oversized hardcover edition, this book is not as heavy as the previous "MAD's Greatest Artists: Don Martin" collection. At least this one is read-in-bed-friendly.
January 18, 2016
Mad's Greatest Artists Sergio Aragones: Five Decades of His Finest Works by Sergio Aragones (2010 E.C. Publications Inc.) (741.9573). This volume is an oversized volume of 270+ reprinted pages from Mad Magazine from the 1960's through the 2000's. No commentary is offered or needed by those of us who grew up reading this stuff. My rating: 6.0/10, finished 1/23/11.
August 2, 2011
If you're a fan of MAD Magazine, cartooning or simply laughing, you need to check out this book, which supplies the best of the best of Sergio Aragones' five decades of work for MAD Magazine - hand picked by the author/illustrator himself. If it wasn't for this guys work, I wouldn't have gotten into cartooning. This is a great collection of some of his funniest gags. Great stuff.
September 19, 2015
I enjoyed MAD magazine as a kid. I didn't understand much of the satire and didn't really care. The best part of the magazine were those little pantomime cartoons along the margins! Mr. Aragones was the king of telling a story with his drawings and this book is an excellent sampler of his work.
June 26, 2016
A very nice collection and tribute to Sergio Aragones, including the my favourite Pollution Alert and the MAD look at Star Wars which has the best gag when Luke goes to the toilet and sees all the different urinal shapes.
May 8, 2017
I don't have much to say about this collection other than it's pretty great. It seems to hit all the high points. I find the later stuff in colour a little weak, but that's more due to the tone of modern day Mad Magazine as opposed to Sergio's work.
Now we need his Groo run properly collected.
Now we need his Groo run properly collected.
January 17, 2011
I love how much he can cram into a single image, and how funny he can be.
August 15, 2011
A surprisingly poor selection of work from an amazing cartoonist. Some of it was great, but some....meh. I know there's better stuff in those five decades.
January 3, 2012
This book is a lot of fun. If you aren't a fan, you might recognize his work from Spy-vs-Spy and Groo the Wanderer.
December 20, 2011
Love this guy! Used to be one of my favorite MAD magazine artists. His wordless series are always funny.
August 23, 2013
The brilliance of Sergio Aragonés over five decades, collected in one super volume. A true feast for the eyes.
October 15, 2015
Heh. Sergio was always the shit.
July 18, 2016
"Crecí haciendo bizcos y riendo con las pequeñas caricaturas de Sergio en la revista MAD, y sus espectaculares gags fueron una gran influencia cuando empecé a idear los Simpsons"
Matt Groening
Matt Groening
June 5, 2017
Excellent. For someone exposed to MAD Magazine from a very young age, this is a masterpiece of the pantomime comic genre. Superb.... Highly recommended.
October 19, 2024
Mad Magazine è una famosa rivista umoristica periodica statunitense ideata da Harvey Kurtzman e William Gaines nel 1952.
È nota soprattutto per la satira e le parodie su tutti gli aspetti della vita e della cultura popolare, della politica, dell'intrattenimento e delle personalità pubbliche americane.
Com'è finito questo titolo nella mia già lunga zona della libreria "sezione fumetti"? Semplice. Da quarantenne nostalgico quale sono, i riferimenti a questa rivista nella serie "i Simpsons", che ormai conosco a memoria, sono tanti: dal viaggio a New York di Homer fino alla rivista comprata da Bart in fumetteria perché ha già piegato la pagina ("l'onnipotente dollaro" vi dice qualcosa?) o il tatuaggio di una carcerata sulla schiena mentre Marge è in prigione e per concludere la puntata dei Party Posse, con la sede di Mad vittima di un attacco da parte del tenente Smash. - Yvan eht Nioj , sempre e comunque -
Queste citazioni mi hanno messo molta curiosità, unita ai richiami di questo volume presenti in alcuni video dello youtuber e divoratore di fumetti
"For theove of comics" .
In più, durante la lettura, ho chiesto a chi di fumetti se ne intende (mio padre) per avere conferma di come la mela non cade mai lontana dall'albero: Mad Magazine lo leggeva durante le prime pubblicazioni italiane (dal '71 al '73) assieme ad altri titoli arrivati dopo quali la rivista francese Metal Hurlant , l'italiana "Cannibale" e "Frigidaire", prima del mio arrivo negli anni '80. Durante il suo ultimo periodo studentesco al Sello e nei primi anni lavorativi, facendo due calcoli.
Devo dire che le mie classiche quattro stelle sono tutte meritate: Escludendo le ultime e recenti vignette in quanto di questo periodo, le prime del '63 in poi restano tutt'ora attuali in un 2024 con la loro satira pungente, nonostante molti perbenisti e buonisti alla Boldrini punterebbero il dito per alcune tematiche (omofobia, bodyshaming e molto altro). E' satira, santo Dio! Se c'è una cosa che odio in questo periodo è proprio quel buonismo che spinge le persone a indignarsi su qualsiasi tema o presa di posizione, senza neanche avere un bricciolo d'ironia o autoironia in certi casi. E' come praticare la fucilazione a riviste quali Charlie Hebdo o il Vernacoliere, non ha assolutamente senso secondo me.
Piacevolmente colpito nel vedere la varietà nei temi affrontati nella sezione "A Mad Look At..." : Superbowl, Bere (non solo alcolici), Body Piercing, razzismo, star wars e molto altro...perfino la mia amata WWE (ai tempi WWF), con tanto di Rikishi che fa la Stink Face ai danni di un povero wrestler che, schifato, corre subito a lavarsi 😂
Altra serie di vignette che mi ha strappato piacevoli sorrisi è stata sicuramente "who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? the shadow knows" (Trad: "Chissà quale male si annida nel cuore dell'uomo? L'ombra lo sa"), dove i ruoli delle persone vengono ribaltati completamente dall'ombra degli stessi.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ su 5, #dacollezione , se non amate il genere almeno per l'impatto culturare che questa nota rivista ha portato nel corso degli anni, tanto che il creatore dei già citati Simpsons Matt Groening interpellato a riguardo dice "Sono cresciuto strizzando gli occhi e ridendo delle minuscole vignette di Sergio su Mad Magazine. Le sue fantastiche gag visive hanno avuto una grande influenza quando ho iniziato a pensare ai Simpson".
È nota soprattutto per la satira e le parodie su tutti gli aspetti della vita e della cultura popolare, della politica, dell'intrattenimento e delle personalità pubbliche americane.
Com'è finito questo titolo nella mia già lunga zona della libreria "sezione fumetti"? Semplice. Da quarantenne nostalgico quale sono, i riferimenti a questa rivista nella serie "i Simpsons", che ormai conosco a memoria, sono tanti: dal viaggio a New York di Homer fino alla rivista comprata da Bart in fumetteria perché ha già piegato la pagina ("l'onnipotente dollaro" vi dice qualcosa?) o il tatuaggio di una carcerata sulla schiena mentre Marge è in prigione e per concludere la puntata dei Party Posse, con la sede di Mad vittima di un attacco da parte del tenente Smash. - Yvan eht Nioj , sempre e comunque -
Queste citazioni mi hanno messo molta curiosità, unita ai richiami di questo volume presenti in alcuni video dello youtuber e divoratore di fumetti
"For theove of comics" .
In più, durante la lettura, ho chiesto a chi di fumetti se ne intende (mio padre) per avere conferma di come la mela non cade mai lontana dall'albero: Mad Magazine lo leggeva durante le prime pubblicazioni italiane (dal '71 al '73) assieme ad altri titoli arrivati dopo quali la rivista francese Metal Hurlant , l'italiana "Cannibale" e "Frigidaire", prima del mio arrivo negli anni '80. Durante il suo ultimo periodo studentesco al Sello e nei primi anni lavorativi, facendo due calcoli.
Devo dire che le mie classiche quattro stelle sono tutte meritate: Escludendo le ultime e recenti vignette in quanto di questo periodo, le prime del '63 in poi restano tutt'ora attuali in un 2024 con la loro satira pungente, nonostante molti perbenisti e buonisti alla Boldrini punterebbero il dito per alcune tematiche (omofobia, bodyshaming e molto altro). E' satira, santo Dio! Se c'è una cosa che odio in questo periodo è proprio quel buonismo che spinge le persone a indignarsi su qualsiasi tema o presa di posizione, senza neanche avere un bricciolo d'ironia o autoironia in certi casi. E' come praticare la fucilazione a riviste quali Charlie Hebdo o il Vernacoliere, non ha assolutamente senso secondo me.
Piacevolmente colpito nel vedere la varietà nei temi affrontati nella sezione "A Mad Look At..." : Superbowl, Bere (non solo alcolici), Body Piercing, razzismo, star wars e molto altro...perfino la mia amata WWE (ai tempi WWF), con tanto di Rikishi che fa la Stink Face ai danni di un povero wrestler che, schifato, corre subito a lavarsi 😂
Altra serie di vignette che mi ha strappato piacevoli sorrisi è stata sicuramente "who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? the shadow knows" (Trad: "Chissà quale male si annida nel cuore dell'uomo? L'ombra lo sa"), dove i ruoli delle persone vengono ribaltati completamente dall'ombra degli stessi.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ su 5, #dacollezione , se non amate il genere almeno per l'impatto culturare che questa nota rivista ha portato nel corso degli anni, tanto che il creatore dei già citati Simpsons Matt Groening interpellato a riguardo dice "Sono cresciuto strizzando gli occhi e ridendo delle minuscole vignette di Sergio su Mad Magazine. Le sue fantastiche gag visive hanno avuto una grande influenza quando ho iniziato a pensare ai Simpson".
February 19, 2022
Para los que crecimos viendo la revista MAD y el trabajo de Sergio, es un gusto tenerlo reunido en este libro, quizá el único punto negativo es que el formato de la revista permitía ver sin problema todos los detalles de sus dibujos, mientras que en el libro algunas cosas se pierden en la unión de las páginas. Varias veces me sorprendí tratando de abrir más el libro para poder ver bien los detalles, pero mejor dejé de hacerlo para evitar el riesgo de romperlo.
February 14, 2019
Love the looseness and spontaneity of the drawings, but there is kind of a nasty streak of homophobia and sexism running through the gags. It made me uncomfortable at times. Reproduction of the last 500 ultra tiny gags on the insert piece is a real challenge to get through, and whoever edited the book slipped up by including one of the little margin cartoons three times.
April 5, 2018
Sergio handpicks nearly 300 pages of his best gag strips from MAD, and it's Sergio, so you know it's awesome.
October 2, 2019
What other word than GENIUS can be used to describe Sergio Aragones?!?
December 10, 2019
Such an imagination! Love his work! Though I prefer the black and white....
September 23, 2024
A very nice collection and tribute to Sergio Aragones, including the my favourite Pollution Alert and the MAD look at Star Wars which has the best gag when Luke goes to the toilet and sees all the different urinal shapes. Probably my favourite Mad artist.
April 23, 2017
Sergio Aragonés is a national treasure.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews