Seeing Mad : essays on Mad magazine's humor and legacy / edited by Judith Yaross Lee and John Bird.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lee, Judith Yaross, 1949- editor.

Bird, John, 1954- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American wit and humor--History and criticism.

American wit and humor.

Mad.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Columbia, Missouri : University of Missouri Press, [2020]

Summary:

"Mad magazine stands near the heart of post-WWII American humor, but at the periphery in scholarly recognition from American cultural historians, including humor specialists. This book fills that gap, with perceptive, informed, engaging, but also funny essays by a variety of scholars. The chapters, written by experts on humor, comics, and popular culture, cover the genesis of Mad; its editors and prominent contributors; its regular features and departments and standout examples of their contents; perspectives on its cultural and political significance; and its enduring legacy in American culture"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I. The Usual Gang

Inside the Editorial Process: Mad Veterans Jaffee and Meglin Look at Their Editors / Paul Levitz

Harvey Kurtzman and Modern American Satire / M. Thomas Inge

Al Feldstein and Mad's Humor of Social Critique / Margaret Cavin Hambrick

Wally Wood: Picturing Male Adolescent Sexuality in Mad's Early Parodies / Joseph W. Slade

The Lighter

and Weightier

Side of Mad, Or, Everything I Needed to Know About Gender and Sexuality I Learned from Dave Berg / Ann M. Ciasullo

Part II. Features from Cover to Fold-In

The Secret History of Alfred E. Neuman / Alan Rankin

The 'Mad 20' with Alfred E. Neuman, Or, It's the Covers, Stupid / Christopher J. Gilbert

The Prohías Paradox: The Cold War Specificity and Existential Universality of 'Spy vs. Spy' / Michael J. Socolow

Mad About Poe: Poetry in a Jugular Vein / Dennis W. Eddings

Sing Along with Alfred: Humor, Satire, and Culture in the Music of Mad / John Bird

You Always Hurt the Ones You Love: Mad Magazine's Affectionate Parodies of Beloved Film Classics / Don Baird

A Golden Age of Blecch: Mad Magazine's Parodic Satire of Quality Television / Ethan Thompson

Folding Against the Establishment: Satiric Distance and Difference in Al Jaffee's Back Cover Feature in Mad Magazine / Kerry Soper

Part III. Themes

A Secular Talmud: The Jewish Sensibility of Mad Magazine / Nathan Abrams

Mutually Assured Disparagement: Enmification and Enlightenment in Early 1950s Mad / James J. Kimble

Diplomats Gone Mad: A Musical Rumble / James D. Bloom

Joining the Fray? Mad on Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew / Nicolas Labarre

Part IV. Theories

'Comedy before Country': Engaged Levity and Absurdist Critique in Mad Magazine / Jeff St. Onge

Genre Studies and Mad Magazine: Changing and Challenging Genres, 1953-1966 / Kathleen Mollick

Part V. Legacies

Sons of Mad: Harvey Kurtzman and the Rise of Underground Comix (an Alternate-Universe Analysis) / Nicholas Sammond

Quotations from the Future: Harvey Kurtzman's 'Superduperman,' Nostalgia, and Alan Moore's Miracleman / Brian Cremins

Part VI. Resources

Mad's 'Usual Gang of Idiots': Selected Capsule Biographies / Joe Otto and Judith Yaross Lee

A Mad Timeline, 1952 to 2020 / Leah Szalai and Judith Yaross Lee.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-8262-7448-X

OCLC:

1164821045