Customer Reviews

Spy Vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'd give this book 5 stars regardless, because I've always loved Spy v Spy -- and this book delivers the goods: Every Spy v Spy Prohias worked on in his life.

But, what REALLY sets this book apart is the the wealth of OTHER material: His other MAD features, cover ideas, and a lot of biographical information covering his life in Cuba and the comics he did there. How many of MAD's contributors can say they were chased out of Cuba by an angry mob (with Fidel himself leading the pack)?

But, the bottom line is the material: If you like Spy v Spy, you'll love this book. The extra material is just icing (albeit extremely intersting and diverting icing) on the cake.

If you're a fan of Spy vs. Spy you'll love this book. A compilation of Spy vs. Spy cartoons plus a history of Spy vs. Spy, how & why it got started, etc. When I used to buy MAD magazine Spy vs. Spy was the cartoon I looked for & anticipated the most. I bought this for my kids & they love it also, even though many of these cartoons are older than they are. This is timeless reading.

As a reader of Mad for over 36 years, I am so glad to see an anthology of "Spy vs Spy". Antonio Prohias' dialogue-less, joyfully savage satire of the Cold War (and war in general), was always a favorite of mine. One spy gruesomely doing in the other, only to have him resurrected the next month (or a few pages later) to gleefully subject his counterpart to a savage Rube Goldbergesque death of his own (the precursor to Kenny in "South Park"?) And aren't they really just the same guy in different suit?
Included in this book are all the Spy vs Spy's ever printed in Mad, along with all the "Spy vs Spy vs Spy" strips, in which the gray lady spy always gets the best of her male counterparts, Prohias' work in Cuba (that got him a "request" to leave from Castro) as well as Prohias' other work for the magazine. While "Spy vs Spy" goes on in Mad, it's just not the same. The new strips are OK, but they lack the Prohias touches such as the extended fingers (like Dr. Suess on acid). With Prohias, Don Martin and Dave Berg gone, we are losing the giants. Fortunately we can turn to volumes like this and which keep these artists like Al Jaffee, Mort Drucker and Jack Davis in the here and now.

"Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook" collects the complete run of the late Antonio Prohias' comic strip from 1961-1987, published by MAD Magazine. The title characters are two equally sinister agents--one dressed in black, the other in white--who constantly war against each other with many a different scheme.
On occasion, the Spies are joined by the Gray Spy--a female operative who always triumphs over the Spies, who are blinded by their love for her. This book also contains artwork by Bob Clarke and Peter Kupfer. There are also extras in this book, including photographs of Spy merchandise, unpublished sketches and essays by Prohias' friends at MAD.
This book has a secret agent, film noir feel to it. It appears that the comics were easily inspired by The Shadow--but to a greater extent, the Cold War.

In my early MAD Magazine days, I naturally took to the more visually-oriented stuff (Don Martin, Aragones's "drawn-out dramas," etc.); the movie & TV satires I didn't graduate to till I began actually watching the stuff they satirized. Among the former things above, Antonio Prohias's iconic spies ruled the day.
I know the strip wasn't to everyone's taste; I guess it's a matter of being reared in the uninihibitedly-violent era of cartoon humor I grew up in. Indeed, there's something rather childish about the bonk-about retaliation engaged in by Prohias's venerable creations (I'll confess- I was always rooting for the White Spy!!--I guess he fought DIRTIER).
But there's another side to Prohias many will find relevatory. He fled to the US from Cuba in 1959 to escape arrest & execution by Castro; this book does show us his earlier strip, "Tovarich," depicting a despicable Soviet dictator meant as indirect reference to the situation of Prohias's native country. Other entries in this book show "one-shot" cartoons he did for MAD: One such article is "The Pearl." Not many have seen this cartoon, but its 2 pages are potent stuff indeed. It's an incredible story of a deep-sea diver who kills an octopus to claim a pearl; the diver's pummelled by a one-eyed old salt, who rides the high seas and whose lifeless hand provides a sunbather with the stolen clam; the sunbather's given one too many strong drinks by a floozy, who nabs the clam; she's shot to death by the bartender. He breaks open the clam, only to find a paper advertisement for Earl's Pearl Shop!
Powerful stuff, and you'll see more of the same in "Spy Vs. Spy--The Complete Casebook." He's no longer with us, but Prohias's work collectively tells us a whole lot about human greed and oppression.

AWESOME!!!!!!! I can't describe how excited I am about this book! I am eight years old and am a loyal, dedicated fan of MAD Magazine. But I have always LOVED Spy vs. Spy. When I first started reading MAD, Spy Vs. Spy was the main reason I read the Magazine. And this book features EVERY single Spy Vs. Spy Comic Strip ever made. So if you love Spy Vs. Spy (and/or a Fan of MAD but also a somewhat minor fan) and you're planning your Xmas list, add this to it! Also, if you like this book, you might want to consider adding the following to your list as well as this book. "Spy Vs. Spy" the video game for game boy color. (Yes I'm Talkin about the original game. So what if it's old? That does not mean it stinks. IT ROCKS!!) PETER KUPER I SALUTE YOU!!!!

This comic strip is a classic. Creative, imanginative, and hilarious. Brain teasing because you have to look carefully at the sequence of what is going on. Antonio Prohias was brilliant in his creativity. His history at the beginning of the book is very interesting.

I was introduced to the Spies when I was 10 and almost from the beginning was a Black Spy fan. The Spies are practically identical in appearance but there are differences in how they did their jobs and what their habits were. I liked the Black Spy because he was so good with disguises and tended to rely more on deception than outright violence to achieve his ends. It was great to have this collection available and it was fun to spend some time with the Spies again.

Antonio Prohias was an unsung hero of the Cold War, and his body of work reflects the life of a man who enraged the Cuban communist government to the point where his life was at risk for his art. And his art is great!

Prohias had the temerity to point out the ugly truths about a regime that promised rainbows every day and a unicorn in every garden, and provided personal hardship, arbitrary arrests, and the abolishment of free speech (but a first class health care system). What's worse, Prohias inspired people to laugh. Laughter at a totalitarian government is, of course, reason enough for a death sentence, but laughter in general is anathema to any fanatic (whether political, religious, ecological, or what have you) and Prohias excelled at inspiring laughter. Death is not punishment enough for that.

But the works that inspired the ire of communists and joy and laughter for everyone else are brilliant. The style of visual art is distinct and clear with uncluttered frames and good use of line, form, and composition. The stories were a series of battles between a black and white spy, with the occasional appearence of a grey spy. The black and white spies won and lost in alternation, and the who came out on top in a given comic was never the one who appeared to have the upper hand. The grey spy was a woman, who played shamelessly on the weaknesses of the men, and, because Prohias was an old-school Latin gentleman, always won when she appeared.

Brilliant visual gags, constantly entertaining comics, by a man who fought totalitarianism with laughter, and deserves a greater place in history than he has been alloted. This book is well worth the time and effort.

E.M. Van Court

What started as a project to print every single Spy Vs. Spy strip Prohias did (plus some that were done by his successors) evolved into a tribute to their creator.

The strips are all here, but there are also a couple of nice essays and rememberences detailing Prohias flight from Castro's Cuba and life in America. Plus they printed some of his pre-Spy Vs. Spy strips.

These strips were meant to be read once a month or more. I've noticed if you read too many in a row, they lose their edge. Still, that's no knock on the work. If you remember these strips from childhood or liked the animated Mad TV segments, this book is well worth a look.