Mad Roctober (Jacob A. Austen) - Roctober #23  - Fall 1998 - 98 pages

https://madcoversite.com/modern_magazine_parodies.html

Roctober is an independent music review magazine published sporadically by Jake Austen since his college days in Rhode Island in 1992.  "Roctober celebrates the most dynamic, bizarre, and amazing unjustly obscure musical heroes of rock, pop, r&b, rockabilly, punk, gay disco, hip hop, Armenian novelty songs and all points in between." [per Roctober Magazine facebook page].  The index of #23 promises three issues per year.  The last known issue is #51 with publication date of August 26, 2013.  The Roctober facebook page has not had any activity since December 2015.  For Roctober #23, Editor Austen decided to mimic the style of Mad magazine and pay tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925-1990).  This is not really a full parody but elements of Mad are strewn throughout the pages of the magazine.  The full-color cover drawing (Sammy surrounded by various versions of Alfred E. Neuman) is actually quite good but no art credit is given.  There are two "Spy vs. Spy" parodies, two Dave Berg "Lighter Side" parodies, tributes to Mad artists (Jack Davis and Don Martin) and marginal drawings by John Greenfield, John Battles, Darren Mennuk, Tim Weldzius, Claudia Parentella, Bratto, Tony Fate and Pedro Bell  in "various places around the zine."  The drawings are generally poor and many of the pages are with 1998-Xerox-quality black-and-white photocopies from other magazines.  The best of the effort is the two-page "Mad-itorial" wherein Austen explains Mad's place in current culture and gives an excellent summary of EC & Mad history.  One of Jake's most prized possessions is the cease & desist he received from Warner Brothers regarding his use of the Mad style.  Following is the correspondence that I had with Jake Austen in 1999.  [JAM 2/4/2017]

(undated on "Roctober records" letterhead) "Jerry, here's some loot for your [Potrzebie Statistical] Abstract.  Also enclosed is my 'Cease & Desist' issue of my mag.  (MAD/Warner Brothers had us C & D, but only after we'd sold out most of our run.) Check out our Sammy Davis Jr. article.  Any glaring ommisions?  Take care, Jake."

(6/7/1999) "Jake, Thank you for the excellent parody of MAD.  It is one of the best that I have seen.  I enjoyed your editorial comments.  I agree that a lot of MAD jokes are lame.  However, the jokes were originally just vehicles for the great art.  Why write great humor and be upstaged by the zany Elder, Wood and Davis drawings?  Kurtzman and Feldstein did not even give credit to non-celebrity writers until MAD #50 when Frank Jacobs led the writer's revolt.  Jacobs, Al Jaffee and Tom Koch (43-Man Squamish) always delivered great articles.  If only 20% of the jokes were good, you still get 100 pages a year.  Where else can you get that much humor?  Do I still like to see Hitler and Popeye in the crowd scenes?  Yes!  Regarding Sammy Davis Jr., my source [Totally Mad] shows references in 25 issues: 9/61, 12/61, 3/62, 6/62, 7/62, 7/64, 1/65, 7/65, 7/66, 3/67, 6/67, 9/67, 4/68, 4/69, 3/70, 10/72, 4/73, 4/75, 3/76, 7/79, 4/80, 1/82, 4/82, 1961 annual, 1964 annual.  There are three volumes of the Potrzebie Statistical Abstract, the third appearing in the last issue (#13) of MADlog.  I am enclosing all three.  Thanks again for Roctober #23.  William M. Gaines would have laughed his beard off.  Those Warner Bros. suits do not have a clue.  They know as much about satire and parody as I do about the un-MAD parts of your magazine.  Best regards, Jerry Moore."

(6/19/1999 "Subj: SamMad") "Jerry, Thanks for your letters and Magazines.  Definetely [sic] the Abstracts are a good example of a crucial item I had no idea I needed.  Thanks for your help also with the Sammy research.  Now is where I ask for more!  I'm doing a follow up to my Sammy article and several of the issues you listed are not in my collection, namely, 9/61, 3/62, 6/62, 1/65, 4/68, 4/73, 61 annual and 64 annual.  Is it possible for you to xerox the Sammy references for me?  If not, let me know and I'll track them down elsewhere.  My deadline is the first week in July, so I have to get on this.  Take care and thanks, Jake.  P.S. one of the Sammy references I missed that you pointed out was a Dave Berg copy of Hirshchfeld! [sic]  Awesome!"

Front Cover - Sammy Davis, Jr. and Alfs
Inside Front Cover - One Fine Afternoon in Study Hall by Jason Mitchell
3 Index [page nymbering is inaccurate]
Departments
4 Letters
6 Mad-itorial by Jacob Austen
8 Bloke And Lager - Mod vs. Lager by John Battles
10 E.C. Wannabe 3 - The Lighter Side of ... by Rob Syers, Jonny Carcinogen and Chuck Reagan
12 Soup to Nuts - Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts by James Porter and Dave Dunlap, Jr.
19 Meet the Neuman ... Same as the Old Man - Alfred E. Ripoffs by Jake Austen
22 Pogo-ing to Chicago - On the Passage of a Few People Through a Rather Brief Moment in Timw by The Soul Rebel
26 Sam on (R)eye Pt. 1 - The Novelty Recordings of Sammy Davis Jr, by Jake Austen
29 The Beau Grumpus Pancake Breakfast
30 Phono-Jack - Jack Davis LP Cover Blowout!
32 Crue Cut - Motley Mick on the Mic!
35 Rockin' Ace's Friend - The Adventures of Grace Hill by Slink Moss
37 Courtship of Eddie's Fodder - Roctober Visits the Heavy Metal Vocalist King!
41 Mad on the Street - by Fonebone and Co.
42 Vino Vino Vino Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Dionysus-A Mad Family Affair by Namella J. Kim
45 Fonebone Bestertester - A Tribute to Mad's Maddest Man [Don Martin]
46 A Real Mother Forya - Monster Mad Net Interview by Jake Austen [Monster Magnet]
48 Funka-Relic - Product Labels for People by Pedro Bell
50 The Cupid Rip-Off - You Know You're Really Finished When ... by Pedro Bell
52 The Lighter Side of Feathers - Charlie Feathers by John Battles
61 Selens Quintanilla Perez by Siempre Selena
66 Toke and Stagger - West Coast vs. East Coast by Jason Mitchell
68 Aptitude - Hardcore (HxCx) SATs
70 Comic??? - How to Start a Successful Career in Show-Bizz (in 12 Lessons) by Bratto, Marcel Dejune and Dan Buck
72 Tales from the Cryptic - At Long Last by James Loverde & Buzzsaw
74 What Do You Mean This Isn't the Rock Scene Tribute - Funny Pictures
76 Berg Eye (Heart) You - The Lighter Side of the Goblins by Hebrew National
78 Sam On (R)eye Pt. 2 - Mad About Sammy by Jake Austen
82 Wannaabe-Elzebub - One Man's Obsession! by Ski Mask
86 M 'n' M 'n' M - Masked Rock & Roll. Monkey Rock 'n' Roll and Midget Rock and Roll
88 Shcticker Shock - Gimmick Rock Update
90 What Do You Mean It's Not thr "New Yorker" Tribute Issue? - Fiction: The Full Monteverdi by Jennifer Tobkin
92 Worthless Reviews - by Waymon Timbsdayle
94 Pedro E. Neuman
97 Robot Head
98 Vault of Ha Ha - More From The Mad Vaults
Inside Back Cover  - [Fold-In] What Is the Secret to Al Jaffee's Success by "Inferior"
Back Cover - "Millennium" by The Goblins (real ad)