Mad #329 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - NYPD Boobs Issue - July/August 1994

The popular television show of the period was NYPD Blue.  Creator Steven Bochco was known for testing the censorial waters with a little bit adult sexual action at the end of each show.  I do not think that I ever watched a whole episode of the show.  By this time, I had experienced cop-show burnout and was not sufficiently intrigued by the bit of end-show peepery.  However, the Mad editors must have thought that the series deserved the unusually-long seven-page parody plus the full Mort Drucker treatment on the cover.  This issue also contained an inordinate amount of media types who populated the un-news and tabloids of the time (Amy Fisher, Lorena Bobbitt, Howard Stern, Michael Jackson et al.).  There were also five pages wasted on non-Mad  comedians ("No-Joke Jokes" and "The Anatomy of the Screaming Man").  The better article in the issue is "Modern Updated Tales from the Crypt" by Russ Cooper and Greg Theakston.  It was good to see the gang return to its horror roots, if only for three pages.  I also enjoyed the excellent drawings by Angelo Torres for Stan Hart's parody - "Dick Tracy, Bachelor."  This one is filled with Chester Gould (1900-1985) characters. [JAM 6/27/2012]

Departments:
All Jaffee - Everything You Ever Need to Know about Caning
The Bob Squad - NYPD Boobs
Investigative Retorts - The 5 "W" Questions We'd Like to Ask of Local TV News
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Smoking
Take My Wife, Police! - Dick Tracy, Bachelor
Counterfeits of Laughter - No Joke Jokes
Winners And Lucifers - Satan's Secret Pacts ... Revealed!
Tales From the Duck Side - The Inane Invisible Intercourse; The Idiotic Invisible Interplay; The Infamous Invisible Incident
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Shoutrage - The Screaming Man
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
The Trojan Course - Condom Etiquette
Shrink Rapped - Flakier
E.C. Does It - Modern Day Tales from the Crypt

Fold-In - Silencer