Mad #556 (Bill Morrison) - Last Bill Morrison Issue - April 2009

One week before Mad #6 (West Coast) was distributed, DC Comics announced that Bill Morrison had been laid off.  This action makes Morrison the Mad editor with the shortest tenure.  To date, a replacement editor has not been identified.  However, The Mad website is promoting future sales of Mad #7 that will include a reprint of Plop! #1 (1973) within the issue.  Plop! was a DC publication edited by Joe Orlando (1927-1998) who was also a Mad contributor for many years.  I think I can safely say that Bill Gaines would never have sold the reprint of another comic within Mad magazine.  The future of Mad is in much doubt in 2019.

In spite of its editorial turmoil, Mad #6 is a very good issue primarily due to humor and art by veteran Mad contributors Tom Richmond, Sergio Aragones, Al Jaffee, Dick DeBartolo, Desmond Devlin, Anton Emdin, Teresa Burns Parkhurst, Peter Kuper, Mike Loew, P.C. Vey, Matt Lassen, Johnny Sampson, Jeff Kruse, Kenny Keil, Rick Tulka and others.  The issue features two excellent parodies: "Dizzy Merry Poopins Goes to the White House" by Ian Boothby and Tom Richmond; and "The Goodest Place" by Desmond Devlin and Anton Emdin.  The six-page Mary Poppins parody is really just an excuse to criticize the crime family in the White House.  Boothby's script is more like a documentary than a satire of U.S. politics.  The parody of The Good Place gives artist Anton Emdin an excellent platform for his cartoon art skills.  My thanks go out to all of the above-mentioned artists and writers for keeping alive the tradition of Mad. [JAM 2/11/2019]

Contents:
02 Merry Poopins Goes to the White House (Practically Putrid Dept.)
08 Spy vs. Spy (Joke And Dagger Dept.)
10 Let's Have Fun with a Hospital Visit! (Spill Your Guts Dept.)
13 A Different Snowman Named Frosty (Snow Means Snow Dept.)
14 If You See Something, Say Something (Homeland Unsurety Dept.)
15 The Wisenheim Museum: Bill Wray (Paint Misbehavin' Dept.)
16 Modern Steps to Make It Official (Love at First Swipe Dept.)
17 A MAD Look at the Future (The Serge-In General Dept.)
21 The Potrzebie of Love
22 Lukey & Mukey
26 Aquaman Funnies
27 Spaghetti & Meatball
31 The Chancers
35 The Libtard Agenda (Yup, We Blue It Dept.)
36 Naughty Comics (Turn Your Head and Laugh Dept.)
37 The Lighter Side of Hooking Up (The Woe-Mance Dept.)
39 The MAD Guide to Proust [fake content]
41 My Pill-ow! (Sleep Depravity Dept.)
42 The Goodest Place (Dirty Danson Dept.)
48 Shorts & Briefs
52 Incoming! (letters)
55 The MADifesto
56 Real, Dumb

Fold-In - Death