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!
