When folks think of the classic MAD, they might almost immediately think of Don Martin. Martin's people look like no one you've ever seen and yet he successfully in his abstraction captures that every man which nestles in the heart of us all. When his characters act stupidly it is a stupidity we can sadly likely identify with. The Don Martin gags were always the first thing I checked out in a new issue of MAD, scampering through the pages to find the two or more likely three installments. After that it was time other things, but it was always Martin first. When Don Martin left MAD for places, for a time at Cracked and later with his own short-lived magazine, he was always instantly recognizable. Martin seemed to have some fine success in the paperback arena, and one regret I definitely have is that over the many years I've read and collected comics and such, I never made much of a point of chasing the MAD paperbacks, especially the Don Martin collections. Captain Klutz needs a new edition especially.
Some years ago they published all of Martin's MAD cartoons in two super-size volumes and I was lucky to stumble across it for relatively small money. The slip-covered collection a treasure and now that I think of it, one I haven't examined in far too long. Maybe when I finish this post, I'll dig it out for a few laughs. Don Martin was always good for that.
I thought Don might be your number 1. I think there are few cartoonists that actually make you laugh,most make you smile maybe giggle. Don Martin was one that could literally make me laugh out loud , and always smile. When I was a teenager at school there were a few artists that were passed about with reverence Neal Adams, Ken Reid, Leo Baxendale (UK kids cartoonists) Kirby, Ditko and above all Don Martin, no one had seen anything like him at the time and his Mad work and books etc were like gold. Funny funny man.
ReplyDeleteI thought he might be number one too but was surprised when it came to actually making the list that Jaffee beat him out. That's mostly because I find Jaffee just as funny and I lover his drawings. Martin is ludicrously funny and his style is like no one else, but the abstraction becomes limiting sometimes I think.
DeleteRip Off