Fotographical Friday: Still #1.

Shocking image, ain’t it. No more shocking than that MAD Magazine is moving from NYC – its home since its inception 65 years ago – to Burbank. On Monday night editors, staff and contributors, both past and present, gathered at send-off party…and I got as many of them to sign this infamous image as I could. As a kid reading MAD I dreamt of being one of “the usual gang of idiots.” Many thanks to my first editor, Jon Bresman, for the encouragement and guidance to make that happen, and to my second editor, Ryan Flanders, for keeping that dream alive and becoming a dear friend in the process.

Pete Zahn and half-o-deer

Here’s the sketches for “The Legendary Deliveries of Pete Zahn” strip that’s in MAD #499. As you can see, the first one (above) didn’t quite have the punch that the second one did.

MAD #499

Did you know I was in the new issue of MAD?

Me neither.

My subscription copy of MAD shows up in the mail today. I look at the contents and mention to my sister-in-law (who’s visiting) that there’s a Strip Club listed and that this is the first one in quite a while that I haven’t been part of. And when I flipped to the section, there it was – a “Legendary Deliveries of Pete Zahn” strip.

The thing is if you have something in an upcoming issue of MAD you get comp copies (usually three) that show up on your door step before the subscription copy. And I didn’t think MAD had any more of my stuff in their files waiting to be run. And this was the first Pete Zahn strip I ever did so I figured it had already run.

I should really pay better attention.