Customer Reviews

Spy vs Spy Masters of Mayhem (Mad)

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This book is a reprint of Mad's Spy vs. Spy Follow Up File (i.e. the second Spy vs Spy book). Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you already have the old book, this one doesn't add anything to your collection.

Mad Magazine was the home of many outstanding cartoonists. Sergio Aragones, Dave Berg, Don Martin, Al Jaffee, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurzman, and Antonio Prohias all plied their trade monthly for readers desperate for a dose of satiric insanity.

Msr Prohias took readers who grew up on Looney Toon classics and twisted their sense of humor to a darker topic: Spy warfare! Yep, it's true. Consider the lonely sheepdog and hungry wolf, Sam and Ralph. Enemies by day. Friends by night. Even the Road Runner and Wiley E Coyote share a common comedic theme with our two spies. One aspect of Spy Vs Spy that is apparent in the three collections from Watson-Guptill is that Prohias is a master of continuity art. The art carries the reader to an inevitable conclusion without dialogue, every time. Originally, the panels were small and occupied a single page, but with the larger format, we are able to appreciate the art with all the splashes, splooshes, and bangs anew.

WG has released three editions of Spy Vs Spy, Masters of Mayhem, , and . Each volume is a masterpiece of `Joke and gagger', as the book back cover states. Each volume demonstrates the enviable skill and craftsmanship that Mr Prohias practised month after month. Can't get the gag, turn off the TV, turn down the MP3, shut down twitter and facebook, and engage the creative side of your brain. Actually, imagine the theme song to Secret Agent Man, James Bond, the Pink Panther, and Austin Powers as you peruse the misadventures of the black and white spy. This book is not about the end gag, but rather the journey to the end gag.

Read in exclusion of the rest of the pages of Mad Magazine, Spy Vs Spy shines, and the marvellous imagination of Prohias is allowed to wander freely.

Simply stupendous. Thank you.

My son LOVES Spy vs Spy and went nuts for this book - it's too short that's the only problem!!

Ordered this book and was amazed at how fast I received it. Also, they have many volumes of the series. Can't find many of these around any more for the reasonable price I paid and speed of delivery. Great service and will need to order more. thanks Amazon

My son loves playing the x-box game and so I went looking for more for him. This book is fantastic. It delivers the classic comedy of 'spy vs spy' without the other mad magazine material which is too old for him right now.

Great stuff! Prohias' style is one of a kind and his twisted humor is always funny. If there is a flaw in this book it is that it's too small! But with a paperback format what can you do?