Mad #128
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #128 (July 1969) arrives at one of the most culturally turbulent moments in American history — the summer of Apollo 11, Woodstock, and the Vietnam War's escalating toll — and the issue's lead parody, 'The Guru of Ours,' channels that exact friction. Written by Frank Jacobs and drawn by Mort Drucker, it uses the framework of The Wizard of Oz to pit the hippie counterculture directly against the establishment, making it one of the sharpest social-political satires the magazine had yet produced in its Feldstein era. The issue also documents the full breadth of what Mad's 'Usual Gang of Idiots' could do in a single package: Drucker's caricature virtuosity, Don Martin's surreal physical comedy, Sergio Aragonés's margin doodles, Dave Berg's suburban observational strips, Al Jaffee's interactive Fold-In, and a pointed anti-smoking back cover — every major recurring form of the magazine firing at once. Notably, 'The Guru of Ours' was the first of three times Mad would return to The Wizard of Oz as a satirical vehicle, establishing it as the only film the magazine would parody more than once.
In "The Guru of Ours," Frank Jacobs crafts a satirical take on protest culture with a newspaper article full of blanks—ready to be filled in with real names, places, and slogans from any given march. The story’s format invites readers to personalize the narrative, turning a generic account into a mirror of contemporary events, all rendered with EC’s signature sharp wit and visual flair. The cover by Bob Clarke captures the mood with a striking, stylized image that complements the issue’s subversive tone.
In a satirical twist on the classic tale, a rural girl named Jo is swept away by a tornado into a surreal urban landscape, where everything—from the buildings to the people—is wildly exaggerated and absurd. The story parodies the journey of the original Oz myth, turning its familiar structure into a sharp, humorous take on modern city life.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $2.99–$24.99 18 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
By July 1969, Mad was operating under editor Al Feldstein and publisher William Gaines in what historians now identify as the magazine's classic era (roughly 1965–1980), during which Feldstein gave his stable of freelancers broad creative latitude to work in their individual strengths. The issue was produced on Mad's standard eight-times-a-year schedule, with an on-sale date verified by the 1969 Periodicals records of the Library of Congress Copyright Office. The cover was painted by Bob Clarke, one of Feldstein's key recruits from the late 1950s, while the interior assembled virtually the entire core roster of contributors that Feldstein had built over the preceding decade — Drucker, Martin, Aragonés, Jaffee, Berg, Jacobs, Davis, and Woodbridge — reflecting the editorial stability that defined the period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published July 10, 1969 by EC (on-sale date confirmed by the Library of Congress Copyright Office 1969 Periodicals records); cover-dated July 1969.
- Lead feature: 'The Guru of Ours' (titled under the department head 'Pot at the End of the Rainbow Dept.') — a Wizard of Oz parody written by Frank Jacobs and illustrated by Mort Drucker, casting late-1960s celebrities as its characters: Liza Minnelli as Dorothy, Tiny Tim as Auntie Em, Dustin Hoffman as the Munchkin King, and Ed Sullivan as the Guru.
- The 'Guru of Ours' parody is historically notable as the first of three occasions Mad used The Wizard of Oz as its satirical framework — the only film the magazine parodied more than twice — specifically targeting the tension between the hippie counterculture and the American establishment.
- Mort Drucker embedded a hidden visual joke in the parody: Schroeder from the Peanuts comic strip appears in the background of page 4.
- Cover art by Bob Clarke; interior contributors across the issue include Don Martin (two strips, one a skydiving gag reprinted in Mad Super Special #38, Spring 1982), Sergio Aragonés ('Drawn Out Dramas' / 'Marginal Thinking Dept.' margin cartoons), Dave Berg ('The Lighter Side of Amusement Parks'), Jack Davis ('The Mad Ice Hockey Primer,' script by Larry Siegel), and George Woodbridge ('The Mad Poetry Round Robin,' script by Frank Jacobs).
- Al Jaffee contributes a Fold-In (titled 'What Is the One Unhappiness Almost All Modern Parents Are Sure to Share with Their Children') — part of his unbroken run of Fold-Ins that appeared in virtually every issue of Mad from 1964 onward.
- The inside front cover features a map of the United States redrawn to reflect American involvement in Vietnam, and the back cover presents a model of a graveyard monument to smoking victims — the latter reprinted in Mad Super Special #9 (1972), reflecting Mad's ongoing anti-smoking editorial stance.
- Alfred E. Neuman appears as the magazine's mascot presence throughout, consistent with his role on the cover and as the symbolic voice of the magazine's satirical worldview in this era.
Cast · 1 character
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #9 (1972), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #10 (1973), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #11 (1973), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #12 (1973), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #13 (1974), Mad #61 (1974), The Completely Mad Don Martin #[nn] (1974), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #36 (1981), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #38 (1982), Mad's Sergio Aragonés on Parade #14 (1982), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #48 (1984), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #102 (1995), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #104 (1995), Mad's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragonès #[nn] (2010), Mad #503 (2010), Mad's Greatest Artists: Don Martin #[nn] (2014), Mad #17 (2021), Mad #49 (2026)
Key issues in Mad
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.