Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook (Paperback)

~ (Author) "New York City, July 12, 1960: It is a typical day at MAD Magazine's Spartan downtown offices at 225 Lafayette Street, near Little Italy..." (more)
Key Phrases: Antonio Prohias, New York, Castro Convertible (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An artist and his legendary comic strip are honored by MAD magazine in Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook. Antonio Prohias's wordless, Cold War-inspired spoof of the agents of international intrigue portrays the twin enemies outdoing each other in elaborately stupid plots to achieve the other's demise. Assembled after Prohias's death, the volume commemorates the cartoon's 40th birthday as well as Prohias's compelling personal story (in 1960 he fled Castro's new regime in Cuba after being unofficially blacklisted for his political cartoons). Comic book fans, especially of the MAD variety, will love this intelligent tribute to an artist. 70 color and 300 b&w illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

James Bond isn't the only cold war-era secret agent whose career continued to flourish after the fall of Communism. For 40 years and counting, the white spy and the black spy have waged never-ending battle on the pages of Mad. Their creator, the late Antonio Prohias, a political cartoonist who fled Castro's Cuba in 1960, was a font of variations on the theme of having one spy meet violent death at the hands of the other. In the next issue, of course, the deceased had been resurrected to resume hostilities. This collection reprints all 247 of Prohias' strips and selections of those by his successors, who include noted illustrator Peter Kuper. The strips were to be read at monthly intervals, however; consumed in bulk, they can become tedious. For baby boomers who grew up with Mad, this dossier may evoke nostalgia as well as chuckles, and younger readers may greet the spies' "joke-and-dagger" shenanigans with out-and-out guffaws. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill; First Printing edition (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823050211
• ISBN-13: 978-0823050215
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,335 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extra material puts this book over the top., April 10, 2003

By	D. Leonard "dnecolt" (Kansas City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, October 27, 2005

By	C. Girard "CJG" (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cold War is over, but someone didn't get the memo., November 19, 2001

By	M. Metcalf (Stamford, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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"?)
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 stips from Mad. While "Spy vs Spy" goes on in Mad, it's just not the same. The new strips are OK, but 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. Here for the ages is one of the reasons Mad Magazine is one of our country's great treasures.