DON MARTIN looks at Monsters!

I have always admired the work of cartoonist Don Martin, who worked at MAD magazine from 1956 to 1988, which, of course, were the golden years of that publication. His cartoon style was unlike anything I had seen before, and it completely blew my mind. His grotesquely designed characters and his ridiculously exaggerated sound effects always made me laugh out loud!

I was really sorry when he departed MAD over royalty disagreements with Mad's publisher, William Gaines but I loyally followed him over to Cracked magazine, where he stayed six years before branching out with his own magazine which unfortunately, didn't do well.
Don Martin kept working on other projects until his death on January 6, 2000 in Coconut Grove, Florida at age 68, from cancer.

In memory of this extraordinary artist, here we have a few monster inspired cartoons, to celebrate the impending Halloween season.

                                              

MAD MAGAZINE ceases publishing.

                          MAD Magazine #95, from June 1965, the first Mad Magazine I ever read!

I was 14 years old when I read my first MAD Magazine. I became hooked instantly to its insane parodies and sarcastic brand of humor. My biggest idol was Mort Drucker and his spot-on caricatures. I also became a fan of Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Jack Davis, Dick DeBartolo, Dave Berg, Joe Orlando, Wallace Wood, George Woodbridge, Paul Coker Jr., Jack Rickard, Angelo Torres, Al Jaffee and the rest of the Usual Gang of Idiots who contributed for the magazine up until the late nineties. My sense of humor was greatly influenced by all of them and I Iearned the craft of cartooning by studying their artwork.
It's sad to see the magazine disappear from the newsstands but I am not sorry to see it go as I had actually stopped reading it by 2005. The magazine ceased to be as sharp and funny as it originally was and none of the newer artists appealed to me as much as the older ones had.
For me, MAD Magazine had pretty much died as soon as the 21st century began.
Long Live MAD!

At The Crack of Dawn...

As the body becomes older, the joints and bones become creakier and noisier as I've come to realize every time I get up from bed.  Each morning becomes a veritable symphony of onomatopoeia reminiscent of those old Don Martin cartoons from MAD magazine!

Hitting the big 65 today!!