Mad #288 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Special Heavy Metal Issue - July 1989

The Mad editors were rather late to this party.  "Heavy Metal" music has its roots in the 1960s, reached its prime in the 1970s and was declining in popularity by the time Mad's "Special" issue was published.  Alfred, drawn by artist Richard Williams, is the lead guitarist on the cover wearing a suit of armor.  The back cover is a magazine parody ("Metal Sludge") that promises "head bashing, ear bleeding, eye poking ..." photographs.  Frank Jacobs delivered a song parody ("Leather Clothes Must Be Worn") with a great double splash-page by Jack Davis.  Within the hair of the first five audience members are the names "Cotton, Stranger, Chris, Ned and Zeke."  I suppose that Jack was having fun with some youngsters he knew.  The final metal-related article is "Mad's Heavy Metal Quiz" written by Chris Hart with great drawings by Rick Tulka including one that looks like Alfred E. Neuman's girl friend - Moxie Cowznofski on a t-shirt.

Dave Berg and Sam Viviano joined the Mort Drucker club with his "Max Korn" joke.  Does anyone know the origin of that?  Editors Ficarra (page 31) and Meglin (page 44) made appearance in the issue as did publisher Gaines (pages 11, 15 and 44).  There were also multiple references to popular humor sources of 1989: Cher, Dan Quayle, Mike Tyson, Tipper Gore and dead Elvis.  Beetle Bailey is in one of the Frank Jacobs/Al Jaffee "Mad Switcheroos." [JAM 10/25/2011]

Departments:
Ovary Indulgence - Twinge
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Self-Defense
Titan-ing Some Nuts - Comic Books Superheroes Based on Real People
In Clods We Trust - The Star Wars Defense System Can't Fail
Frank on a Roll - Leather Clothes Must Be Worn
From Bad to Reverse - Mad Switcheroos
Persons, Places And Stings - Mad's Guide to Lesser-Known Hollywood Tourist Sites
Special Test Appearance - The Mad Heavy Metal Quiz
Progress Retort - Scientific Advances That Unimprove Our Lives
Tales From the Duck Side - The Diabolical Dungeon Deception; The Ghastly Gallows Good-bye; The Inconceivable Island Incident
From Rags to Bitches - Lurking Girl
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Deceiving Hair Lines - Mad's Cheap and Painless Methods for Overcoming Baldness
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
An Embarrassment of Richard's - Deceptive Ways to Get Junk Mail Senders to Excitedly Open Your Replies
May Divorce Be With You - Dreary John

Fold-In - Metal Detector