Mad #180
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #180 (January 1976) stands as one of the most culturally precise entries in the magazine's long film-parody tradition, arriving roughly six months after Steven Spielberg's Jaws had redefined Hollywood's commercial ambitions and permanently altered the summer release calendar. The issue doubles down on its shark theme by pairing the main 'Jaw'd' parody with a separate Sergio Aragonés piece, 'A Mad Look at Sharks,' giving the issue a rare thematic unity that made it memorable to readers decades later. It also captures Mad under editor Al Feldstein at the height of the magazine's cultural reach — a moment when the publication's bimonthly parodies functioned as a widely shared national debriefing on whatever had most dominated the American imagination.
In "The Frog Prince," a 1976 issue of Mad, a local sheriff joins forces with a gruff fisherman and a nerdy ichthyologist to track down a monstrous shark terrorizing a seaside town—complete with the magazine’s signature satirical twist. Written by Larry Siegel and illustrated with sharp, exaggerated flair by Mort Drucker, the story delivers classic Mad absurdity in a riff on the blockbuster thriller Jaws. The cover, by Mort Künstler, captures the scene’s over-the-top tension with a dramatic, fish-eye view of the shark’s looming shadow.
In this satirical take on *Jaws*, a determined sheriff joins forces with a gruff fisherman and a nervous ichthyologist to track down a rogue shark terrorizing a seaside town—where the real danger might just be the people trying to stop it. Written with sharp wit and delivered in Mad’s signature irreverent style, "Jaw'd" turns the suspense of the original into a laugh-out-loud fish tale.
In "Mirthquake," a satirical take on the disaster film *Earthquake*, a collection of Los Angeles residents ignore the looming tremor they all know is coming—preferring to complain about traffic, argue over parking, or stress over minor inconveniences. With deadpan absurdity and sharp wit, the story captures the city’s collective denial in a moment of impending chaos.
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The issue was published by E.C. Publications under editor Al Feldstein, who had grown the magazine's readership to over two million during the 1973–74 circulation peak and continued steering its mature mid-decade voice. The cover was painted by illustrator Mort Künstler — working under his pen name 'Mutz' — as a comedic riff on Roger Kastel's iconic Jaws one-sheet poster; this Mad cover assignment represented a brief but notable detour in Künstler's career before he pivoted to fine-art historical painting. The lead interior parody, 'Jaw'd,' was scripted by Larry Siegel and drawn by Mort Drucker, who by 1976 had already produced well over a hundred film and TV parodies for the magazine and who Drucker retrospectives would later cite 'Jaw'd' as among his most beloved assignments.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published January 1976 by E.C. Publications, Inc. (the entity that continued EC's Mad line); cover dated January 1976, issue #180.
- Cover painted by Mort Künstler working under his pen name 'Mutz'; it parodies Roger Kastel's famous Jaws theatrical poster. The cover image was later reprinted in Mad #190 (April 1977).
- Lead feature 'Jaw'd' (8 pages): script by Larry Siegel, art by Mort Drucker; it parodies the film Jaws (1975) and caricatures Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Murray Hamilton, and others under joke names.
- 'Jaw'd' was reprinted in Mad Super Special #29 (Winter 1979) and again in Mad Super Special #41 (Winter 1982), as well as in the 2012 Running Press collection Mad's Greatest Artists: Mort Drucker and the 2023 Meredith Corporation special Mad Spoofs Movie Classics.
- Second shark feature: 'A Mad Look at Sharks' (3 pages) — written and drawn by Sergio Aragonés — ran in the same issue, creating a thematic double-feature on Jaws-era shark mania. It was also reprinted in Mad Super Special #29.
- Second film parody in the issue: 'Mirthquake' (7 pages), scripted by Dick DeBartolo with art by Angelo Torres, spoofing the 1974 disaster film Earthquake; reprinted in Mad Super Special #29.
- Additional contributors confirmed in the issue: Al Jaffee (inside back cover fold-in), Don Martin (inside front cover gag plus a gasoline-crisis feature), Dave Berg ('The Lighter Side of Change'), Jack Davis, Tom Koch/Bob Clarke, Lou Silverstone/Paul Coker Jr., Stan Hart/Jack Rickard, and Frank Jacobs.
- The issue was edited by Al Feldstein, under whose tenure the magazine's circulation had reached its all-time high only two years earlier, in 1973–74.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Mad #82 (1976), Mad #83 (1976), Svenska Mad #7/1977 (1977), Mad #190 (1977), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #28 (1979), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #29 (1979), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #31 (1980), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #41 (1982), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #48 (1984), Het mafste uit 's Neerlands Mad #9 (1986), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #62 (1988), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #72 (1990), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #85 (1993), Mad for Decades #[nn] (2007), Mad's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragonès #[nn] (2010), Mad #509 (2011), Mad's Greatest Artists: Mort Drucker #[nn] (2012), Mad's Greatest Artists: Don Martin #[nn] (2014), Mad #28 (2022), Mad Spoofs Movie Classics #[nn] (2023), Mad #29 (2023), Mad #38 (2024)
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