Mad #260 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Marquee McShy Issue - January 1986

Back to the Future was another blockbuster movie for Steven Spielberg earning over $350 million worldwide.  Mad gave this clever time-travel picture the double treatment.  Jack Davis drew the cover art with the movie stars trying to thumb a ride in Alf's Delorean.  And, parody stars Dick DeBartolo and Mort Drucker collaborated on the feature page-four article ("Bleak for the Future").  The Mad parody did not end on the positive side as the movie did since Marquee's future parents were last seen at the drug store.  The better Drucker parody in the issue was "Kookoon" written by Arnie Kogen.  Reader Neil Wahlert noted that almost every caption in both parodies ended with one or more exclamation and/or question marks.  It appears that the new editors were mocking the editorial style of retired Al Feldstein. 

The assignment for Kurtzman & Elder ("Traveler's Blues") was a rather unfunny article (song parody by Frank Jacobs) that showed 12 frames of a fat airplane and some tiny people here and there.  That was a waste of ink. [JAM 4/10/2011]

Publisher Gaines and Editor Meglin make an appearance in Dave Berg's "Lighter Side of Employment." 

Departments:
Present Tense, Past Imperfect - Bleak for the Future
The Ol' Cell Game - New Uses for Old Batteries
Frey the Unfriendly Skies - Traveler's Blues
Don Martin - One Not So Fine Day un the Life of Artie Charney; One Not So Fine Day in the Life of Seymour Shmendrick; One Not So Fine Day in the Life of Harold Qwerty
Along the Snide Lines - The Mad Nasty File
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Sergio Aragones - Floppy Disk
Dick - Truth in Road Signs
The Rights Stuff - A "Miranda Law" for Everyday Victims
A Bad Case of the Re-Runs - The Crummymooners
Where the Wild Things Star - Horrifying Show-Biz Cliches
The Oral Majority - "Sicky Minutes" Looks at the Molders of Morality in Modern America
Behind the Odd-Balls - A Mad Field Guide to Spotting Celebrities at the Movies
Compiling It On And On - Mad's Really Relevant Book of Lists Volume 2
Wash Bored Games - Laundromat Bingo
No Pool Like an Old Pool - Kookcoon

Fold-In - New Coke