BOOK REVIEW - THE MAD ARCHIVES. #1. 2002. DC Comics.
Wonderfully daft book collection of the first ever Mad publications, a precursor to the subversive satire driven Mad Magazine (which emerged from this magazine) that would present is in time with Spy V Spy, Alfred E Neumann, and Don Martin.
The familiar characters have yet to materialize in these early comics, which are a superb parody of the clichés of 1950’s comic book pulp literature, with savage spoofs of crime, romance, and science fiction tales. Letters and ads from the issues are also lovingly preserved.
There are great takes on many well-known figures - King Kong is brought back to a New York that doesn’t even give him a second glance. Tarzan (Melvin Of The Apes, the only recurring character in these early issues) proves to be such a lummox when he goes to England to recover his estates that the rest of the family flee to the jungle and leave him to it.
The name Melvin becomes a running gag, inserted into most stories and strips given. It shouldn’t be funny, but it is.
The horror spoofs manage to be both funny and genuinely scary in a Tales From The Crypt fashion. In one, a Swamp Thing type blob, made of rubbish, and known simply as Heap, destroys its creator and his swamp house (absurdly propped over the miré with a single broomstick), when the creator denies the creature from falling in love with another garbage pile. The sight of the Heap wearing a Zoot Suit is strangely touching.
This is a very funny book, which rarely feels dated or anything less than fresh and vibrant and yet it still gives a sense of holding a piece of genuine comic-book history in your hands.
Arthur Chappell
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