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Mad Peck Studio
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 30, 2020
I'm surprised that Goodreads doesn't have--at least not as of the time I’m writing this--an image of the cover. It’s quite striking.
So Mad Peck Studios produced cartoons and graphics for a number of publications over the years, from underground comics to mainstream music publications like Spin and Creem. Much of the material consists of record reviews in comics form and similar material. There's a certain delight in encountering contemporary opinions of albums that we know went on to become classics, and some of the obscurities sound intriguing as well.
There's a clip-art sensibility at work here. I don't believe that that's literally how the strips were created, but many of the character designs for Peck’s cast are clearly from other sources. The sensibility carries over into the writing, with references to pop- and counter-culture flying thick and fast. I was definitely too young to get all the references when I first encountered this book in 1987, fresh out of high school. Actually, I won't swear that I get them all *now* (2020), though I certainly get more of them.
Ultimately, this book is of a certain era. It's a series of snapshots from the Summer of Love up through the middle of the Reagan era, focusing primarily on rock and roll. I think at least a nodding familiarity with the music, movies, and TV of the times is helpful. As far as I can determine, the Mad Peck’s work was hardly influential in either the world of comics or the world of music, but students of either may enjoy this book. In that spirit, it is recommended.
So Mad Peck Studios produced cartoons and graphics for a number of publications over the years, from underground comics to mainstream music publications like Spin and Creem. Much of the material consists of record reviews in comics form and similar material. There's a certain delight in encountering contemporary opinions of albums that we know went on to become classics, and some of the obscurities sound intriguing as well.
There's a clip-art sensibility at work here. I don't believe that that's literally how the strips were created, but many of the character designs for Peck’s cast are clearly from other sources. The sensibility carries over into the writing, with references to pop- and counter-culture flying thick and fast. I was definitely too young to get all the references when I first encountered this book in 1987, fresh out of high school. Actually, I won't swear that I get them all *now* (2020), though I certainly get more of them.
Ultimately, this book is of a certain era. It's a series of snapshots from the Summer of Love up through the middle of the Reagan era, focusing primarily on rock and roll. I think at least a nodding familiarity with the music, movies, and TV of the times is helpful. As far as I can determine, the Mad Peck’s work was hardly influential in either the world of comics or the world of music, but students of either may enjoy this book. In that spirit, it is recommended.
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April 12, 2025I started this one during the summer, didn't finish it and had to return it to the library, then I took it out again and wasted too much time looking for where I wrote down the page number I was on and some notes I had, then unfortunately the Mad Peck himself died and I was afraid to return it to the library because I knew as soon as I did it would be put on hold by someone else at the least or outright stolen and put on Ebay by some asshat. Never did find those notes...
It's a bizarre, cramped book, and I wish there was a bit more actual insight into its crafting (there's plenty of irreverent insight). I remember reading an old romance comic book years ago and recognizing a panel lifted for Mad Peck's famous Providence poster. Is all the art here collages, early-age clip art? And the "ads" here for "Tape-O-Hits" are such a technologically outdated, (illegal?) foreign concept I struggle to even understand how they worked.
But I really got into the zone when I sat down and plowed through this here thing sitting on a couch drinking coffee in the library before returning it (late, but with no fee). The strips reach a sort of peak: light but critical music reviews in the form of hipsterfied comic book zingers from the likes of the sleazoid Masked Marvel, I.C. Lotz and others, coupled with MSTK-style commentary on the strips by a befuddling assortment of characters. It's a pretty unique way of doing things, and if nothing else adds flesh to that Providence poster you see everywhere. And boy did that man have an encyclopedic knowledge of Rock & Roll.
It's a crying shame the RI library system only has this one copy of this one book by this man that will soon be stolen, and it's a Cranston library at that! As far as I know, I only saw Mad Peck once in the flesh and it was recently, at a friend's book opening at a local comic book store, buying my friend's book and scrounging around the free comic book pile (think he picked up a Uncle Scrooge and TMNT comic). I'm a bit ashamed to say I'd always assumed the artist was a myth, a consortium, or some RISD alum who had died or moved away back in the 80s. Lo and behold he'd been sulking around these parts all this time, and just when I've started to show interest in him he's passed. May that be a lesson to someone, about something...
It's a bizarre, cramped book, and I wish there was a bit more actual insight into its crafting (there's plenty of irreverent insight). I remember reading an old romance comic book years ago and recognizing a panel lifted for Mad Peck's famous Providence poster. Is all the art here collages, early-age clip art? And the "ads" here for "Tape-O-Hits" are such a technologically outdated, (illegal?) foreign concept I struggle to even understand how they worked.
But I really got into the zone when I sat down and plowed through this here thing sitting on a couch drinking coffee in the library before returning it (late, but with no fee). The strips reach a sort of peak: light but critical music reviews in the form of hipsterfied comic book zingers from the likes of the sleazoid Masked Marvel, I.C. Lotz and others, coupled with MSTK-style commentary on the strips by a befuddling assortment of characters. It's a pretty unique way of doing things, and if nothing else adds flesh to that Providence poster you see everywhere. And boy did that man have an encyclopedic knowledge of Rock & Roll.
It's a crying shame the RI library system only has this one copy of this one book by this man that will soon be stolen, and it's a Cranston library at that! As far as I know, I only saw Mad Peck once in the flesh and it was recently, at a friend's book opening at a local comic book store, buying my friend's book and scrounging around the free comic book pile (think he picked up a Uncle Scrooge and TMNT comic). I'm a bit ashamed to say I'd always assumed the artist was a myth, a consortium, or some RISD alum who had died or moved away back in the 80s. Lo and behold he'd been sulking around these parts all this time, and just when I've started to show interest in him he's passed. May that be a lesson to someone, about something...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews