I began reading “Unconditionally MAD, Part 1 – The First Unauthorized History of MAD Magazine” by Mark Arnold shortly after the beginning of this year. It’s 472 pages in length, something I would normally finish in no more than three days. But I was taking my time because I wanted to absorb as much as I could (though that is problematic with a multi-year history such as this book) AND I was reading reading three to four other books concurrently.
My History With MAD Magazine
My exposure to MAD Magazine began when I was around 8 or 9 years old, which was the early 1960’s. I was already a huge comic book fan, so when one of my friends showed me a copy of MAD Magazine and its brand of humor, I was hooked. MAD felt more “adult” in its humor and almost rebellious in its nature. I read it every month for at least 10 years and then sporadically after that. I even bought the paperback collections of earlier features (remember, it had been in publication for a decade before I ever laid eyes on an issue) like “Spy Vs. Spy”, “The Lighter Side Of…”, and of course its movie and TV show satires.
So, this book was like a history lesson of one of the greatest humor magazines of all time (I always preferred MAD to Sick, Cracked and its other imitators, at least until National Lampoon arrived) AND a chance to re-visit the time when it was a large part of my life. Just as importantly, it gave me a “behind the scenes” look at what was happening with regard to the artists (always MY focus) such as Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Paul Coker,Jr., Frank Berg, Don Martin, Sergio Aragones, Wally Wood, Al Jaffee and others as they provided the visuals for the stories in MAD.
In other words, “The Usual Gang of Idiots.”
Here’s a look at the cover of MAD Magazine that came out on July 1955, the month and year I was born.
Comprehensive And Detailed
“Unconditionally MAD, Part 1 – The First Unauthorized History of MAD Magazine” Is both a comprehensive look at the magazine’s 70-year history and an issue-by-issue breakdown of each issue’s content. Arnold cites multiple sources for many of his informational examinations of personal relationships between the Publisher (William C. Gaines) and editors, writers and artists. He does the same for historical questions of “what happened when”within the magazine’s illustrious past.
This is good…and bad. Having such a wide variety of accounts of the same subject (when they agree) adds to the veracity of the account. But sometimes the variety of accounts do NOT agree and it can be confusing attempting to figure out which one (if any) are accurate.
I would also postulate the book might have been one-third its length if Arnold had not cited multiple (in some cases three or four) accounts that agree almost verbatim. There were many times I thought, “Wait, I just read that a few paragraphs earlier” because I indeed HAD read those same words a few paragraphs earlier. Needless to say, it felt overly repetitious.
Highly Recommended For Fans
That said, I would encourage every fan of MAD Magazine to get this book and read it. You will enjoy the trip through time and being able to relive the times you grabbed a copy of MAD Magainze off the magazine rack and read it from cover to cover. I loved it so much that I’m looking forward to reading Arnold’s sequel “Unconditionally Mad, Part B – The First Unauthorized History of Mad Magazine.”
I highly recommend this book!
