Raving Mad

by Al Feldstein

CLEAN PAGES. CREASES ON CORNERS OF BOTH COVERS.

Genres: Humor

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Albert Bernard Feldstein was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. After retiring from Mad, Feldstein concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first came out in 1961 and yeah, it feels dated in parts. Still, satire at its Mad finest. Great spoof of medical magazines (e.g., 'honest' ones on how to scam patients for more fees, etc.). My favorite entry is the 'Mad Mythology Primer' which explores 10 myths, like King Midas:

See the King.
His name is King Midas.
King Midas is very greedy.
Greedy, greedy, greedy.
Today, he would be playing in the stock market.
Midas has magic.
Magic, magic, magic.
Everything he touches turns to gold.
Gold, gold, gold.
Some day, a mosquito will bite King Midas on his stomach.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Whoops! A 22-carat belly-button.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the (get ready for it)

1968 edition of the original 1966 paperback, which contains material originally published in Mad magazine in 1961.

Got all that?

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Mad magazine's humor was more text-based than visually based. Yes, we still have comics by artists like Don Martin and David Berg, but we also have much longer introductions and a parody of Reader's Digest and a medical magazine.

If you read this online, such as at the Internet Archive, you're going to need to greatly enlarge the pages. You not only catch little details in the art, but also in the text. I'm getting to greatly appreciate the artist who always seems to have a potted plant named ARTHUR in each paperback.

There's a section on karate being new (!) That may offend some readers. Keep in mind that Mad mostly makes fun of white people, so now it's equal opportunity time for the Japanese ... I think they were meant to be Japanese.

There were a couple of dead pet jokes that made me sad. Now, I fully admit that I'm a hypocrite, because the dead people jokes didn't bother me at all.

I think the celebrity posing as Narcissus in the Greek Mythology Primer is Bobby Darin, but I'm not 100% sure. If it's not Bobby Darin ... well, it damn well should be!

[Freyja Vanadis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I picked this book up in high school back in the late '70s - early '80s, but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, for the most part I really love Mad, with the exception of the Don Martin material which I don't find funny at all.