Dave Berg: Five Decades of The Lighter Side Of . . .

by Dave Berg, Drew Friedman (Foreword)

Included in this magnificent collection are some of the greatest works from Dave Berg—one of MAD Magazine’s most popular writers/artists. The material is be presented chronologically and interspersed throughout with rough sketches,a rare 1970 interview, an introduction and portrait of Berg by well-known American illustrator Drew Friedman, a "�growing up with Dave Berg" essay by his daughter Nancy Berg, newly illustrated versions of classic Berg strips by several noteworthy cartoonists, and much more.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Art, Fiction, Anthologies

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 12, 2014

About the author

Artist, author, and cartoonist for MAD Magazine, 1956-2002.

Reviews

[Caesar Warrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's to say? If you were a fan of Dave Berg and the Berg's Eye View Dept. at Mad Magazine you will enjoy and cherish these classic strips from "Lighter Side Of...", as well as some of his earliest material for Mad in the mid-1950's.

On the down side: Not too much at all. Some of the tribute pages from other artists and writers could've been better put together. I would've appreciated more essays on the man as well.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, I don't think anyone's favourite was Berg when I was a little boy and reading MAD with all my friends. His work just seemed so old and square compared to the rest of the mag. I almost didn't bother picking this one up, but I'm glad I did. Admittedly, the LIGHTER SIDE OF strips are better taken in small doses but this book does a great job framing Berg's work and the brief section of Berg's pre-Light Side work in the 50's is gorgeous and a revelation. Adds up to a fun book that does a great job covering Berg's work and history.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful archive of Dave's work, and I bet it will introduce eras of work that not everyone who's a fan of his work know about. It demonstrates how his style changed from the amazing Mid-Century cartoonish, to the Dave Berg style that most people are familiar with, to his final, less recognizable, more generic look. It has just the right amount of written content to give the reader a small glimpse of the man, but not so much that too much is revealed about his personal life.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Berg's comic strip in MAD Magazine has always been a favorite of mine, and this book was the perfect tribute to the man and his work. "Five Decades" compiles Berg's work from the late 50s to the early 2000s, from a back-cover comic to Lighter Side strips (the majority of the book) to earlier pieces pre-Lighter Side. Berg's flippantly cynical portrayal of the world across countless topics is showcased in this book, and I loved every page of it!

[Wayne Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Berg was, along with Don Martin, one of my favorite artists at MAD Magazine. This was a great book, with only one failing:

There wasn't enough of Mr. Berg's strips in it. Of course, since he worked at MAD for 45 years, that would have required an extremely large set of volumes.

I did like his daughter's tribute essay, too.

[RebL · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 70s my mom used to bring home paperback comics collections from yard sales - 5¢ here and 10¢ there - so I grew up reading old Beetle Bailey, Peanut, Andy Capp, and lots and lots of Mad mass-market paperbacks. This collection is no mass-market paperback! It's five decades of artistic gems your coffee table will be proud to display.

[The other John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one's a collection of comic strips that Dave Berg did for Mad magazine. As the subtitle says, it spans five decades of work. The collection is not complete--I only recognized one set of strips, even though I read numerous issues of Mad back in the day. But it's still worth checking out. Mr. Berg had a great talent in finding humor in everyday life.

[Kirby Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great sampling of his distinguished career with Mad Magazine.

[Viggo Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great nostalgic read from my childhood. Great observations by Dave Berg. Towards the end his drawings weren't as they once was, but still funny to read.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The comforting thing about Mad magazine is that it's kind of the same jokes for literally decades.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

hours of fun. memories.

MAD magazine was a part of my growing up

this brings back memories

[David Ramirer · Rating 4 out of 5]

schöne sammlung der dave berg-predigten, die den subtilen humor dieses könners würdigt.

dennoch aber nur vier sterne, weil so manche redundanz zu gunsten einer etwas größeren auswahl vermieden hätte werden können.

[FranklinTV · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice tribute to Dave Berg and his gentle humor, made only worse by the existing MAD Magazines having the poor taste to do "The Darker Side of the Lighter Side". It is so easy to make gentle things crude that it really is just an example of intellectual laziness.

[David Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice tribute to Dave Berg and his gentle humor, made only worse when in the last throws of MAD Magazines they had the poor taste to do "The Darker Side of the Lighter Side". It is so easy to make gentle things crude that it really is just an example of intellectual laziness.

[Viktor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming review of Dave Berg's work. Nothing is knee-slappingly funny, but it's a lot of fun.

[Simon Yoong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best feature in the old Mad magazines, but at least I now know the story behind Mr. Roger Kaputnik.