Justin Colussy-Estes On That MAD Symposium At SCAD A While Back

Justin Colussy-Estes sent along a really nice note and an informal report from the MAD panel and symposium in Savannah a couple of weeks back. With his permission, I'm re-running it here. Please remember that its informal, conversational tone is because it was meant as an e-mail rather than a journalistic dispatch. Still, it's great to see that group of creators recognized in any setting, and particularly at one where people like Justin can attend and share in the discussion of what those artists accomplished.

I dragged my family down to Savannah this past weekend for the SCAD Mad Magazine panel and symposium, and it was so fantastic I want to send a note of thanks; I wouldn't have discovered it if you didn't post your calendar*. The panel was one of the great comics moments from my life, so when I say thanks, I deeply and truly mean it.

I also wanted to share some of the interesting conversation and observations, if only because there's no one in my face-to-face life that I can convince to listen to me babble on about this stuff.

What was amazing about the panel is not how much humor they had, but how obvious it was that they are very, very serious about their craft and they are incredibly aware of MAD's legacy in the worlds of comics, illustration, satire, and American pop-culture.

They all had amazing things to say about Harvey Kurtzman, mostly noting what an exacting editor he was. Al Jaffee talked about how he made less money on work for Kurtzman, and yet he admired Harvey and wanted MAD assignments because Harvey made him a better artist. (MAD didn't pay less, but, as a freelancer, time is money, and Kurtzman's demand for edits slowed down the process). Then Sergio Aragonés related a story about work he did for Kurtzman -- instead of a script, Harvey gave him the pages with completely finished pencils, but gave Sergio free reign to change them how he wanted. He took it home and, try as he might, he was humbled by the fact that he couldn't improve on Harvey!

Paul Coker's first work for Harvey was for Help! magazine, and he joked about getting sent on assignment to Cuba. He then reflected on all the assignments that Kurtzman sent him on that were incredible opportunities (the march on Washington, among others) that no other editor would have provided.

Jaffee also 'fessed up to an ad assignment he took years ago when a neighbor (who was in advertising) approached him with a Paul Coker drawing. "Do you know this guy's work? Can you do this?"

This was before Jaffee and Coker had met. He said, "I can do the work, but I can't draw like him. Why not get Coker?" The neighbor replied, "Well, we can't afford him, but we can afford you!" Jaffee always felt guilty for taking the assignment (he said it paid too well to pass up), but he apologized by giving Coker a laminated copy of the full-page NYT ad he had done. Everybody on stage admired it, and noted how great it was.

Nick Meglin was the emcee, and he had lots of stories to tell, which he was good at, but he told them in an attempt to ask questions/ prompt discussion, which he wasn't necessarily great at, and the rest of the guys ribbed him for it. But both Nick and Sam Viviano had interesting perspectives as editors. One of the questions during Q&A was in part about the camaraderie these guys obviously shared with one another, and they said that one of the smartest things MAD did was to take all the freelancers on a trip every year or so together.

The most revealing moment when it came to the editors, however, came from Tom Richmond. He related how, early in his career, he had met with Nick and Sam over lunch, and they had seen his talent. But they told him, "We have a Mort Drucker, we have a Jack Davis -- we want to see what Tom Richmond can do. You need to go find your own voice."

Tom also said that, before he got his first assignment for MAD, he was talking to Sam on a visit to NY. Sam said, "We like what you're doing, but we can't consider you as a contributor because you work for Cracked."

"No, I don't," Tom replied.

"Oh, when did you quit Cracked?" Sam asked.

"About three seconds ago." And it wasn't even an offer of a job, but just the opportunity to be considered that had Tom leaping at the chance to work with MAD.

That, to me, says it all when it comes to just how phenomenal the impact and the presence, still, MAD has.

I've attached a few photos that I took with my phone. Sorry they're not better, but you can at least see everyone.

*There's a bit of me eating crow here, because for a long time I inwardly grumbled at the calendar, as it seemed for ages to just be a list of taunts about how nothing seems to take place in the South, but that's not your fault, now, is it?

I hope that there will continue to be this kind of event for various expressions of comics' rich and varied past in addition to general attempts to mark, unearth and appreciate the history of the art form. The underground artists, for example, are I think entirely over 60 years old now, and many of the 1970s mainstream comic book creators are reaching that age as well.


 
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