MAD's Greatest Artists: The Completely MAD Don Martin (MAD's Greatest Artists Series) [Box set] [Hardcover]

Don Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2007

Just about everyone who came of age during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s was influenced by MAD MAGAZINE, and no one at MAD was more influential than "MAD's MADdest Artist," Don Martin. His immediately recognizable style--featuring bulbous noses, wild sound effects, and the legendary "hinged feet"--was filled with broad and daring slapstick and routinely broke new ground. A surprisingly quiet man, Martin's work spoke volumes as he left an indelible mark on several generations, influencing the style of many illustrators while shaping the sense of humor of countless misguided youths. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004. Says Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side: "Don Martin was the one who really stood out."Now, it is with great pride that Running Press, in collaboration with MAD, launches the MAD’s Greatest Artists: The Completely MAD Don Martin (MAD’s Greatest Artists Series). For the first time ever, here is the complete collection of every piece of art Don Martin published in MAD throughout his extraordinary thirty-year tenure (1957-1987). With all of Martin's strips, covers, posters, and stickers--presented in chronological order--it is nothing less than a masterpiece of comic genius. Complementing Martin's opus of published works are letters, sketches, and rare photos providing an in-depth look at the artist at work. Plus, scattered throughout are notes and original illustrations--commissioned for this volume--paying tribute to the artist and penned by MAD's most-notable personalities, including Al Jaffee, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragonés, and more. There are also notes by the likes of Jim Davis (Garfield) and a foreword by Gary Larson. A collector's item and object d'art in its own right, this deluxe two-volume slipcased edition will be the season's must-have gift book for the millions whose childhoods--and subsequent adulthoods--would not have been the same without MAD MAGAZINE and Don Martin.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...fans of Don Martin's genius will rejoice in this double-decker omnibus." -- Washington Post

"Balm for the funnybone, bruising for the back." -- Rocky Mountain News, November 24, 2007

"Can't see enough of the magazine and cartoonist that kept you sane through your coming-of-age in the '60s and '70s? How about two volumes and more than 1,000 pages? ... Exquisitely brewed for the coffee table." -- Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 2007

"In short, it's a masterpiece befitting a genius." -- The Sunday Star-Times, December 2, 2007

"The Completely MAD Don Martin" by Don Martin (Running Press) THWACK! That's the sound of this 25-pound, two-volume laugh riot dropped from 25 feet up. It's filled with everything Martin drew for MAD, in his slapstick-y style, during his 30-plus years in the mag's subversive universe." -- NY Post, December 16, 2007

"The Completely MAD Don Martin" is gorgeously printed. For the MAD maven, it's the gift of the season." -- The Houston Chronicle, December 2, 2007

"This mammoth two-volume hardcover set collects every single piece of art that 'MAD's Maddest Artist' created from 1957 to 1987 - a 1,000-page body of work that displays astounding consistency, as well as provoking endless laughs. Illustrating absurdist gags that routinely bordered on the berserk, Martin's artwork featured a keen and detail-rich comedic sense. Terrific stuff: no wonder he's regarded as one of the all-time greats." -- The First Post, October 5, 2007

You can have your high-tone, filled-with-stunning-color-plates retrospectives of Goya and Picasso -- none come close to "The Completely MAD Don Martin" ("1,000 pages, 2 volumes, 1 slipcase, 25 pounds, $150 -- Cheap!"). This insanely special gift to the ages from Running Press has every piece of art that MAD's Michelangelo published during his 30-year run at the magazine, plus letters, sketches, photos and an intro by the "Far Side's" Gary Larson.

The jokes still work, the visual cues are timeless, the artwork identifiable from a city block away. This is like watching Dimaggio, Hope & Crosby, Paul Robeson -- clips from our collective memory bank. Personal favorites: The "One Afternoon ..." and "Scenes We'd Like to See" panels.

$150 is too much, you say? Genius has no price -- you'll get more benefit from this than that Starbucks habit. -- The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 14, 2007 Sunday

About the Author

Don Martin (1931-2000) was known as "Mad's Maddest Artist" during his 30+ years with the magazine. His wacky sound effects, memorable characters and signature style made him an icon, and a key influence on the generations of artists who followed him.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1200 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; Reprint edition (October 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762430508
• ISBN-13: 978-0762430505
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 3.7 x 13 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mad's greatest artist finally gets his showcase October 18, 2007

By Brian Reaves TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Of all the artists to ever contribute to Mad Magazine, Don Martin's work is probably the most recognizable. The hinged feet, long fingers, crooked noses, and expressive sound effects (like THOINK! or FLUGGLE!) made him the first comics I would really slow down to read when getting the latest issue of Mad as a boy. Now every single bit of his work for the magazine has been collected here in a beautiful box set.

The pages are roughly the size of the old magazine, so you still get the same effect of first reading it. The colors are amazing on the acid-free paper. His first comics are a little rough artistically and don't really look much like his later work, but it's interesting to see it evolve from the more detailed "sketch comedy" to the four-panel funnies he later made popular.

The only shortcoming these books have is that they neglect Don's paperbacks that he wrote under the Mad title (ex: "The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz", "Don Martin Forges Ahead", "Don Martin Digs Deeper", etc). Characters such as Captain Klutz and Chester Bestertester don't show up here, and to me those books were some of his funniest material. Maybe the Mad guys will release those as a similar set later on so we don't lose any of Martin's madness.

These books are heavy and are obviously meant to last. If you're familiar with the "Absolute" sets DC Comics puts out ("Absolute Kingdom Come") then you'll be familiar with how this is laid out. It's pricey, but holding 30 years worth of comics by one of the funniest cartoonists around makes it worth the expense.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An ambitious effort, and they almost pull it off October 25, 2007

By Bretzky

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I pre-ordered this set and it finally came today. I was going nuts waiting for this collection. Like another reviewer mentioned, the first thing I noticed was that these are some heavy books. Pages are printed on pristine archival paper which has some heft and reproduces the black & white comics fairly well. Besides all of his art, most of the "usual gang of idiots" - the core of MAD artists & writers during it's heyday - provide commentary throughout. I especially enjoyed Dick DeBartolo's pieces, as he seems to have been the closest of Don's friends from the magazine. Sergio Aragones also has a nice two-page tribute.

Another nice touch is all of the comics (which are in chronological order) have a legend at the bottom with the issue and publication date.

As great as this set is, I do have a few gripes - some of the color pages (particularly a few of the back cover gags and the different stickers from Super Specials) were poorly reproduced with colors being "off", muted, or slightly blurry. It's possible that only some copies (including mine) were part of a bad printing run, I don't know. I drop my rating by a star for this and also because some of the B&W art is not as crisp as it was in the magazine, but even this problem is not enough to spoil the overall presentation and uniqueness of having all of Martin's MAD work in one place. It's a bargain at this price.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Long Overdue Trophy to the Cartoon Master November 6, 2007

By Charles Moyer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you love Don Martin, Mad Magazine, or just the comic art, this book deserves your attention. A classy trophy like package of all of Martin's work for Mad Magazine, in one larger than life, heavy stock page after another. It won't take long to get through, which makes the price a bit steep for an average laugh seeker, but for those of us that can laugh time and time again looking at our favorite Don Martin 'toon we've seen a thousand times, this is a feel good investment.

Alternately a cheaper and more technology savy solution to see Don's work is the Absolutely MAD DVD, which has 600+ issues of Mad Magazine - Don Martin and all - veiwable on your computer through Acrobat.Absolutely MAD Magazine - 50+ Years

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE GREATEST AND MADDEST OF ALL! December 23, 2007

By Tim Janson HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The memory is an amazing thing. Most days I can't remember where I left my car keys and yet I can vividly remember events from decades ago like they were yesterday. One of those memories, I was probably around 12 or 13 at the time, found me at my local bookstore checking out the new comics. I had some extra money from Christmas and it was burning a hole in my pocket. Then I saw a book featuring Don Martin strips from Mad Magazine. This wasn't one of those little paperbacks but rather a magazine-sized book that I think cost around four or five bucks. Considering these were the days when comics were around 30 or 35 cents that was a LOT of money to me. I spent the night by my friend's house that night, cracking up all night reading Martin's wild strips.

The stable of cartoonists that Mad Magazine boasted throughout the 50's through the 80's was simply amazing: Jack Davis, Dave Berg, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones, Antonio Prohias, and, of course, Don Martin, the man known as Mad's Maddest Artist! These men were all geniuses in their own right and all had very lengthy tenures with Mad. Martin worked for the magazine for an incredible 32 years from 1956 through 1988. Martin's strips were the most off-kilter and insanely silly things I had ever seen and I've been a fan ever since I first saw his work. His characters are instantly recognizable by their droopy eyes, round bulbous noses, and the trademark hinged feet.

Now there have been many artist collections, summary sampling's of greatest work and things like that, but here we have something most unique. This isn't a sampling or a best of type of work...this is EVERYTHING...the whole nine yards, the whole shebang...the whole...well, you get the idea.... Contained in this massive, two-volume set is every piece of art that Don Martin did for Mad Magazine in 32 years: every strip, every cover, every poster, and everything else...all slammed between the pages of two, 500 page hardcover books, presented in chronological order. The volumes come in a sturdy slipcase, with each side bearing Martin's take on a famous work of art.

It's interesting to see Martin's earliest strips. It would be a couple of years before he really refined the "Don Martin look" and find his niche in the Magazine. Probably the first strip which had that look was 1957's `The Unfortunate Part of Feeding Pigeons Homemade Popcorn". Here, three men are sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. They notice that the pigeons only seem to like the popcorn being tossed out by the man in the middle...soon the pigeons are swarming as well as the people. This is the best popcorn they have ever had! They wonder what his secret is and he explains, casually, it's made with arsenic because he hates pigeons....The man strolls away leaving bodies of people and pigeons everywhere. This is the kind of wacky, often macabre strip that Martin became famous for.

Early on, Martin did recurring strips such as Future TV Ads and Strange Tales. It was in the mid-60's when Martin began to name most of his strips with simple titles like "One Day in the Jungle", "One Night in a Restaurant", "One Day in the Park", and then advanced onto more specifically titled "One Late Afternoon in South Dakota" and One Rainy Afternoon in the Black Forest". Bottom line is that no matter where or what time, Martin had a strip for it, seemingly.

Martin's cartooning style wasn't his only trademark. Just as important was his impossible sound effects. No one made sound effects like Martin...a steamroller rolling over an eyeball makes a "Sklork!"; "Thwa-Dap!" and "Spla-Map" are the sounds made when a black belt ant slams the guy who tried to step on him, on the pavement; and only Martin could envision the "Geeen" which is the sound of Plasticman giving the finger to a guy on the 32nd floor of a building. That's Gold! For the sound effect enthusiast the inside front and back covers are loaded with all of Don's unique noises.

Some of my favorite Martin strips were the parodies he did of popular movie and TV shows. These lengthier strips gave Martin a chance to really showcase his plotting ability. There was "Conehead the Barbiturate" from 1982, Outtakes from Superman III and Return of the Jedi, and Star Trek III the Search for Spock. For 32 years, Martin always managed to keep his work fresh and funny.

The books are high quality, glossy stock paper and bound in heavy covers. At $150 it's a hefty price tag although online sellers like Amazon discount it for under a hundred bucks so it is a very good deal. Imagine...owning everything Don Martin did for Mad Magazine, now that is priceless!

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON Read more ›