Mad #414 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Tonal Rendering Issue - February 2002

By 2002, Dave Berg's drawings were not good enough for the slick, mostly-colorized Mad.  When Mad started to accept ads, they apparently needed a "better" look to attract advertisers.  Berg's "Lighter Side", that had been running since 1961, was first printed with blue borders around the jokes (Mad #407 and #409).  Then the editors tried colorized panels by Wildstorm (Mad #410 and #412).  In issue #414 the color was removed but Wildstorm was allowed to add "tonal rendering" that made Berg's drawings look like photographs of color drawings.  Sadly, the Mad editors felt the need to alter Berg's work while leaving John Caldwell, Duck Edwing, Bill Wray, Herman Mejia, Timothy Shamey, Angelo Torres and Sergio Aragones untouched.  This disrespectful treatment was occurring just a few months before Berg's death in May 2002.  [JAM 3/9/2014]

Color Pages: 30 of 56 pages (54%)
Humorous Content: 50 of 56 pages (89%)

Departments:
Don't Do the Crime If You Can't Do the Prime Time - America's Most Wanton
Getting a Break-Up Call - Some Less-Than-Subtle Indications That Your Fairy Tale Romance Isn't Going to Have a Happy Ending
Dis-Claimers - Even Yet Still Further More Badly-Needed Warning Labels for Today's Hottest CDs
Tales From the Duck Side - A Toll of Two Cities; From Whom the Booth Tolls
Youth Is Stranger Than Fiction - When Other Teen Idols Jump on the Young Adult Novel Bandwagon
Angster's Paradise - Monroe & ... The Youth Job Expo
Broom With a View - Harry Potter: Missing Dialogue They Won't Even Include on the Special Nine-Hour Collector's Edition Commemorative DVD
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side
Title Wave - 2001: The Year in Film
Grieving Las Vegas - Mad's Celebrity Cause-of-Death Betting Odds  [Michael Jordan]
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Monsters, Inc.
Row vs. Wade - Mad Explores When to Take the Kayak and When to Swim  [fake department]
Prose And Con - New Sales Pitches for Old Technology
The Land of Make Me Heave - Only in Hollywood
Schmuckyville - Eh
Boy Meets Hurl - What Goes Down Must Come Up

Fold-In - Computer User  (not Harry Potter)