Mad #430 (Nick Meglin and John Ficarra) - Meltdown Comic Book Shop Issue - June 2003

Mad Artist Sergio Aragones is known as the "World's Fastest Cartoonist".  He is extremely prolific but he also rarely takes the time to add background details.  In this issue, he broke that pattern by giving us a tour of the "Meltdown Comic Book Shop" in " A Mad Look at Mothers".  The shop stocks Mad, Groo (of course), Usagi, Bone, Captain America, Popeye, Wonder Woman, Walt Disney and Plop publication.  In addition, Batman, the original Donald Duck, and a Bart Simpson action figure can be found on display. 

The feature movie parody in the issue is the eight-page "$-Men 2".  I saw this movie (X2) in 2003 but today I have a hard time following the plot in the parody.  Perhaps this was the angle that writer Desmond Desmond was playing.  These movies have way too many superheroes/mutants and extremely expensive special effects for each of them.  Some of the highlights from the Tom Richmond renderings are: the Swiss-army-knife hands of Vaseline, Saddam Hussein dart board, tic-tac-toe on the forehead of Skincrawler, a can of "Whoop Ass", the vault "X-IT", Hungry Hungry Hippos, a Muppet, giant Tupperware container, Snoopy, two Oscars, a Smurfette, etc.  [JAM 5/7/2014]

Color Pages: 40 of 60 pages (67%)
Humorous Content: 48 of 60 pages (80%)

Departments:
X Marks the Flop - $-Men 2
Tales From the Duck Side - Splash Me If You Can
Angster's Paradise - Monroe and ... The Brain
Good Copy, Bad Copy - A Mad Guide to Plagiarism
Dog Day Afternoon Programming - The Jerry Springer Spaniel Show
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Student Body Fat - Firsthand Evidence That Obesity in Your School May Be out of Control!
The Chat 'N Stat - Mad Deconstructs TV Talk Shows ... This Month: The View
Wolf Blintzes - What If CNN Merged with the Food Network?  [fake department]
Behind the Straight Ball - A Prom Night Scrapbook for a Gay Couple in Smalltown, U.S.A.
Return to Spender - The LoJerk Stolen Vehicle Recovery System
Serge-In General - A Mad Look at Mothers
The Wizard of Odd - Duke Bissell's Tales of Undisputed Interest
Everything Old is Keanu Again - Mad's Unreal Outtakes from The Matrix Reloaded
The Ruse of Engagement - Subtle Indications That the Guy You're Dating May Not Be a Millionaire
Dick - Mad's Spam of the Month: Magic Meat Enhancer

Fold-In - Book Buyers