What do you think?
Rate this book
The Mad Reader
reprints comic strips from the early 1950's issues of Mad.
203 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1954
2 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 10, 2024
Another solid round of old time comics to read.
February 19, 2020
Before it became a humour magazine, MAD was primarily a humour comic book spoofing the popular genres of the day. It was decidedly less "satirical" and overtly big on the parody element.
This book, edited by the late Harvey "Kurtz" Kurtzman, includes some of the classic bits from the magazine's bygone days. Dead-on parodies of the 1950s popular pulp fiction include "Superduperman," "Starchie," and "Lone STranger," as well as some original articles looking at contemporary newspapers and advertising tactics.
One of the best, this book features articles which are just as timely and as funny now as they were when they originally hit the shelves.
This book, edited by the late Harvey "Kurtz" Kurtzman, includes some of the classic bits from the magazine's bygone days. Dead-on parodies of the 1950s popular pulp fiction include "Superduperman," "Starchie," and "Lone STranger," as well as some original articles looking at contemporary newspapers and advertising tactics.
One of the best, this book features articles which are just as timely and as funny now as they were when they originally hit the shelves.
January 11, 2013
I include the Mad stuff on my list because for me it was part of my evolution in reading. Children's books - Comics - Mad Magazine - reading stuff without pictures. The 50's/Havey Kurtzman stuff is the best.
October 17, 2018
A good introduction explains this is the 59th anniversary faithful reprint of the first Mad collection, itself published relatively new into the comics beginning. The art is gorgeous and it is a nice little piece of history (despite the cover, this early material even predates Alfred E Neumann's first appearance).
Of especially interest is the underlying legal issues of the first parody Mad every ran, on Superman, which revealed they almost got scared off from the notion of doing parodies until they get enough legal advice to stick with it (I think it was lawyer number 4 who told them they'd probably not be sued for printing parody... And the rest is history).
It's a piece of its time but has both historic interest and charm. Any MAD fan should at least give it a read, if not own it.
Of especially interest is the underlying legal issues of the first parody Mad every ran, on Superman, which revealed they almost got scared off from the notion of doing parodies until they get enough legal advice to stick with it (I think it was lawyer number 4 who told them they'd probably not be sued for printing parody... And the rest is history).
It's a piece of its time but has both historic interest and charm. Any MAD fan should at least give it a read, if not own it.
December 30, 2024
A wonderful collection of MAD's original materials. I have read this over and over and still get a great kick out of it!
January 10, 2010
I loved Mad magazine as a grade schooler, apparently "reading" every one of their reprint collections. Back then the family lived in unincorporated Kane County, Illinois in one of the many developments springing up around the country to accomodate the veterans of America's wars and we baby boomers, their offspring.
The Meadowdale development had no sidewalks, no lawns, no shopping areas, no school when we moved there. I was five and didn't mind not having to go to kindergarten. Kids of my age abounded and no one seemed to worry about our safety as we ran around all day, every day, in greater and lesser herds.
The Oak Ridge School was in place in time for first grade, and so were a few sidewalks, even a shopping mall: the Meadowdale Shopping Mall, home of the world largest one storey department store under one roof. It was there that I obtained some of the Mad Readers--purchases the parents didn't mind because they kept me quiet while they shopped.
The best place at the mall was the furniture store, especially on rainy days. The mall was walking distance and its immense surrounding parking lots always had enough deposit bottles laying around to allow us, if we were diligent, to collect money sufficient for a five cent ice cream sugarcones or fresh pops. Then, surfeited with sugar, we'd descend on the furniture showrooms.
The great thing about the furniture store, other than it always being dry and warm, was that they had it set up as a series of fake living rooms, each with a television. Back then, televisions weren't universal. My family didn't have one until the grandparents gave dad their old portable. These televisions, the ones in the fantasy living rooms, were top-of-the-line items, much bigger than any family we knew owned. So we'd turn one on, tune it in and sit, more or less quietly, until it dawned on one of the managers that we weren't attached to adult customers. Then we'd be told to scoot--and scoot we did, to another living room arrangement governed by another manager on another side of the store. This could go on for hours.
I also eventually got a subscription to Mad Magazine itself, but didn't keep it long. The early stuff, the stuff from the fifties which was written more for salacious adult males than for clueless kids was the stuff I liked. The old art was better. The magazine was too tame.
The Meadowdale development had no sidewalks, no lawns, no shopping areas, no school when we moved there. I was five and didn't mind not having to go to kindergarten. Kids of my age abounded and no one seemed to worry about our safety as we ran around all day, every day, in greater and lesser herds.
The Oak Ridge School was in place in time for first grade, and so were a few sidewalks, even a shopping mall: the Meadowdale Shopping Mall, home of the world largest one storey department store under one roof. It was there that I obtained some of the Mad Readers--purchases the parents didn't mind because they kept me quiet while they shopped.
The best place at the mall was the furniture store, especially on rainy days. The mall was walking distance and its immense surrounding parking lots always had enough deposit bottles laying around to allow us, if we were diligent, to collect money sufficient for a five cent ice cream sugarcones or fresh pops. Then, surfeited with sugar, we'd descend on the furniture showrooms.
The great thing about the furniture store, other than it always being dry and warm, was that they had it set up as a series of fake living rooms, each with a television. Back then, televisions weren't universal. My family didn't have one until the grandparents gave dad their old portable. These televisions, the ones in the fantasy living rooms, were top-of-the-line items, much bigger than any family we knew owned. So we'd turn one on, tune it in and sit, more or less quietly, until it dawned on one of the managers that we weren't attached to adult customers. Then we'd be told to scoot--and scoot we did, to another living room arrangement governed by another manager on another side of the store. This could go on for hours.
I also eventually got a subscription to Mad Magazine itself, but didn't keep it long. The early stuff, the stuff from the fifties which was written more for salacious adult males than for clueless kids was the stuff I liked. The old art was better. The magazine was too tame.
February 20, 2014
I don't know about you, but Mad paperbacks were one of the many influences I had when I was learning to read as a wee lad. We used to be able to get them at the local K-Mart back in the day (y'know, back when K-Mart was trying to be Woolworth's), and I bought many of them, all long since disappeared in the mists of time. So when I find them astray at flea markets or on eBay, I snatch 'em up.
The Mad Reader was the first paperback edition that Max Gaines and the Usual Gang of Idiots put out, featuring select reprints from the original comic book-sized version of Mad. You've got "Superduperman", perhaps the most popular parody the comic ever did, along with the rarely seen "Starchie", which got them in a whirlpool of legal trouble with a certain ginger teenager's creators. The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Gasoline Alley and Dragnet round out the pop culture satires, and Miss Potgold Beer of 1954 makes a couple of appearances.
Even today, this stuff is damn funny! Will Elder, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, and Wally Wood were at the heights of their abilities, and had been given a fairly free reign creatively by a publisher willing to sell books on their merits. Things would change in a couple of years after the abominable tactics of Frederic Wertham and his sensationalistic and complete bogus "Seduction of the Innocent" tirades before the nation, but for a brief moment, the funny books truly were hilarious.
This li'l paperback is usually considerably cheaper than the original comics or even the DC Archives of Mad, and while it is in black-and-white, it's a great read!
The Mad Reader was the first paperback edition that Max Gaines and the Usual Gang of Idiots put out, featuring select reprints from the original comic book-sized version of Mad. You've got "Superduperman", perhaps the most popular parody the comic ever did, along with the rarely seen "Starchie", which got them in a whirlpool of legal trouble with a certain ginger teenager's creators. The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Gasoline Alley and Dragnet round out the pop culture satires, and Miss Potgold Beer of 1954 makes a couple of appearances.
Even today, this stuff is damn funny! Will Elder, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, and Wally Wood were at the heights of their abilities, and had been given a fairly free reign creatively by a publisher willing to sell books on their merits. Things would change in a couple of years after the abominable tactics of Frederic Wertham and his sensationalistic and complete bogus "Seduction of the Innocent" tirades before the nation, but for a brief moment, the funny books truly were hilarious.
This li'l paperback is usually considerably cheaper than the original comics or even the DC Archives of Mad, and while it is in black-and-white, it's a great read!
January 7, 2014
I'm pretty sad this didn't resonate with me more. I can tell the detailed artwork filled with sight gags is a spot-on parody of whatever's being spoofed, but unfortunately, I just don't know the source material well enough to take full advantage. It's almost like this should be taught in a history of comics class instead of sold as a humor book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews