Mad #210 (Albert Feldstein) - Comics Sound Effects Issue - October 1979

Don Martin is the king of the cartoon sound effect.  Martin's drawings were always short on words but used very descriptive sound effects to describe the action.  However, in issue #210 the process was reversed.  Writer (and artist) Duck Edwing provided the situations and the sounds, and Don Martin drew the characters to match.  With this format, Mad readers received some rare comic parodies from Martin who was not known for his caricatures.  The subjects of the Edwing/Martin imaginations were Tarzan, Superman, The Human Torch, Iron Man, Aquaman, Crock, Mary Worth, The Hulk, Batman, Popeye, The King of Id, Little Orphan Annie & Sandy, Wonder Woman, Clark Kent, Spiderman, Hagar the Horrible, Porky Pig, Prince Valiant, Alley Oop, Snoopy, Thor, The Silver Surfer, Andy Capp, The Katzenjammer Kids, Olive Oyl, The Phantom, Plastic Man and Superman again.  Don Martin fans should be pleased to know that all of his Mad sound effects have been compiled into the Don Martin Dictionary that can be found on Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site (www.madcoversite.com/dmd-alphabetical.html) and www.mindsnackbooks.com/mad.  Participants in this project were Gilford, John E. Hett, Marten Jallad, Ricky Long, Ed Norris, Richard Parks, Rick Stoner, D.J. Williams and yours truly.

Long before director Peter Jackson applied his movie magic to create the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy was made into an animated movie by Ralph Bakshi.  Mad's talented writer, Frank Jacobs turned this film into a musical ("The Ring And I") with ten contemporary song parodies.  Jacobs' article was drawn by Mort Drucker making this one of the finest movie parodies to appear in Mad. [JAM 10/6/2010]

Reader Neil Wahlert adds: "Thought I should bring up a goof that Frank Jacobs made in 'Lord of the Rings' animated movie parody (in #210).  In the parody of the song 'Gentle on My Mind' (page 10), Jacobs fudges on the first and second lines of each stanza, which are supposed to be shorter than the third and fourth lines ('Well it's knowin' that your door is always open and your path is free to walk/That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch ...').  To be sure, Jacobs didn't goof this up previously (at least not in his 'Star Trek Musical,' issue #186); but it is noteworthy.  Let's face it: we expect superior work from Jacobs, don't we?" [11/1/2010]

Future Mad editor, John Ficarra made his first appearance in Mad with "Mad's Table of Little-Known And Very Useless Weights, Measures & Distances."

Prolific Mad artist, Sergio Aragones (marginals, etc.) drew his first full-cover of Mad showing Alfred E. Neuman mowing the UPC.  The only other cover by Aragones to date was #293.

On page 17, word bubbles are pointing to the wrong speakers in panels 1 and 6.

Look for Dopey in "The Ring And I."

The lunch-lady is in love with French cook, Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) in "Why Do We Assume It Makes Sense?"

Departments:
Breaking the Hobbit - The Ring And I
All Kidding a Snide - The Mad Nasty Book
Schlock Watch - Sixty Seconds
Givin' 'Em a Ribbin' - Mad Medals of the Issue (Professional Athletes)
Noise Solution - Don Martin's Guide To Some Very Obscure Comics Sound Effects
Applying the Break - Mad's Do-It-Yourself "Dear John" Letter
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Cooling Off
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Statis-Tickle - Mad's Table of Little-Known Weights, Measures & Distances
Ill Logic - Why Do We Assume It Makes Sense ...?
Return Engagement - Wait Till You Get Home And Find That
Device, Man, Cometh - More New-Improved Products That Really Are New And Improved
Shooting Crap - Vague-$

Fold-In - Jaws III