Show off your Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Art 0

[Brian Peck]

Today would have been Antonio Prohias 97th birthday creator of Spy vs Spy. In July 1960 he entered the offices of Mad Magazine with his portfolio, he spoke no english but his daughter as his interpreter. That day Mad bought the first cartoon from Prohias involving two crazy Spys, which launched one of the most famous strips ever published in Mad. He would go on to sell hundreds of Spy vs Spy cartoons, which were published in Mad plus 6 paperback collections. Prohías once said, "The sweetest revenge has been to turn Fidel's accusation of me as a spy into a moneymaking venture."

I loved Spy vs Spy growing up. When I read Mad, I always flipped to his Spy vs Spy artwork. They were perfect, no dialog and simple settings with some funny gags. If you read the issues in order, you will find if one white Spy was victorious in one gaga then it would be the reverse in the next one. For someone who knew very little english he was one of the most popular artists in the american publication.

Originally there were just two spys, black and white, but with issue #74 he introduced the gray female spy. Originally either the white or black spy would be victorious but now each spy would try and out do each other to win he affection of the gray spy. Interesting twist on the idea but was not that effective. There were only 19 Spy vs Spy vs Spy gags last one running in Mad #100.

In honor of Prohias and the other crazy artwork Mad published I thought it would be fitting to share some of it. Beside Prohias Mad stable of lunitic artists included Don Martin , Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Angelo Torres, Bob Clarke, Wally Wood, Dave Berg, Al Jaffee and Sergio Aragonés to name just a few. Prohias is my favorite Mad artist but right up there is Don Martin, my ultimate goal is to get a Captain Klutz piece. Some Day.

Show us your Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Art.

Start off with The Fifth Mad Report on Spy vs Spy unpublished cover.....

 

 

[Brian Peck]

Up until issue #125 of Mad, each Spy vs Spy cartoon would be composed of two gags, top panel was one single gag, then below was a different 6-panel gag. The morse code below the single panel gag spelled out "by prohias".

After issue #125, each cartoon changed to one single gag, 3 tier. His last published Spy vs Spy cartoon for the magazine was in 1986.

Top gag for Spy vs Spy cartoon from Mad #87.

Top and bottom gag for Spy vs Spy cartoon from Mad #87

Single gag for Spy vs Spy cartoon from Mad #269 (last one he drew and wrote)

[bluechip]

[Brian Peck]

Originally there were just two spys, black and white, but with issue #74 Prohias introduced the gray female spy. Originally either the white or black spy would be victorious but now each spy would try and out do each other to win he affection of the gray spy. Interesting twist on the idea but was not that effective. There were only 19 Spy vs Spy vs Spy gags last one running in Mad #100.