National Lampoon Parodies 1973 - Henry Beard, Michael O'Donoghue, Tony Hendra, Brian McConnachie (Senior Editors: Sean Kelly, George W.S. Trow, Douglas Kenney)

January 1973  - Death Issue

https://madcoversite.com/modern_magazine_parodies.html

(Henry Beard and Dick Giordano and Neal Adams) The Adventures of Deadman - This eight-page, comic book super-hero (Batman?) parody explains the origin of Deadman who was once heir to the La Brea tar-pit fortune.  Hamster La Brea drove Giotto Chiarioscuro off a cliff but a brilliant scientist found the body and preserved it for all time.  Hamster's son, Delmar manages to inherit the fortune by bribing public officials and then fighting crime with his father's stiff body.  Comic book ad parodies are for "Last Aid" (how to preserve the body of a dead friend who trips on a rock) and the book, "Bobby Fisher Shows You How To Beat Death" (at chess).

(Dick Frank and David Kaestle and Brad Holland and Ivan Lacher and Warren Sattler and some anonymous NL writers) Playdead - This is an excellent 14-page parody of Playboy.  The cover shows a dead model wearing a large possum (magazine mascot) bracelet.  "The Playdead Advisor" gives nothing but nonsense answers to questions from readers including one who died six months ago.  The "Playdead Interview" is with Dan Blocker (1928-1972) who does not answer any of the questions since he had been dead for almost a year.  In the pictorial ("The Stiffs of Sweden"), four women who were victims of executions, suicides and accidents are shown in their last poses.  "The Playmort of the Month" is Miss January in a hospital bed with a bed-chart pegged to zero.  The "Playdead's Parting Jokes" are rather morbid.  "The Ribald Classic" uses a lot of words and digressions but fails to tell a story or make any sense.  "The Playdead Pad" is a tomb with a circular coffin and state-of-the-art stereo system.  Members of the "Playdead Jazz Pall All-Starred Band" include Harry Truman (1884-1972) on piano, Gunga Din (fictional) on bugle and lead singer, Joe Valachi (1903-1971).  The magazine parody ends with four drawings in the style of Playboy regular contributors, Buck Brown (1936-2007), Phil Interlandi (1924-2002), Eldon Dedini (1921-2006) and Erich Sokol (1933-2003).  [JAM 11/7/2010]