Mad #239
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #239 (June 1983) is a representative example of the magazine's mid-period satirical formula operating at full strength: it deploys Tarzan/John Clayton — one of Mad's oldest parody targets, a figure the magazine had been lampooning since its second-ever issue in 1952 — alongside a comedic treatment of Vincent van Gogh, demonstrating the editors' habit of mixing pop-culture icons with art-history subjects in a single issue. As EC Publications' sole surviving title by this era, each issue of Mad in 1983 served as the flag-bearer for the entire original EC line's satirical DNA. The issue also continued the tradition of Sergio Aragones' wordless marginal cartoons threading through every page, a running feature that had become inseparable from Mad's visual identity.
"Simple & Simple" delivers another sharp, satirical dive into the absurdities of everyday life, as Dave Berg mines humor from the quiet chaos of routine—jogging, marriage, pets, and the strange logic of neighbors—through his signature deadpan wit. With crisp, precise art by Berg himself and a cover by Jack Rickard that captures the story’s dry tone, this 1983 issue is a classic slice of Mad’s observational comedy at its most incisive.
In "The Lighter Side of..." from Mad #239, a whirlwind of absurdity unfolds through the everyday trials of life—sickness, jogging, marriage, school, and more—each moment skewered with the magazine’s signature satirical flair. With no writer or artist credited beyond typeset letters, the humor lands with crisp, deadpan precision, turning mundane frustrations into laugh-out-loud vignettes.
In "The Verdiccch," a disgraced lawyer drowning in booze takes on a malpractice suit against a church-run hospital, stumbling into a case that might just give his life meaning—though whether it’s redemption or another fall remains to be seen. Written with the sharp, satirical edge Mad magazine is known for, this seven-page parody skewers courtroom drama tropes with a mix of absurdity and quiet desperation.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Mad #239 was cover-dated June 1983 and published by E.C. Publications Inc. under editor Al Feldstein, who had steered the magazine on a dependable monthly schedule since the late 1950s. The cover was painted by Jack Rickard, with the cover concept credited to Sergio Aragones — a reflection of how Mad's 'Usual Gang of Idiots' operated as a collaborative creative ecosystem rather than a top-down editorial unit. The issue appeared at a moment when Mad was still the pre-eminent American humor magazine, though its circulation peak of the early 1970s had passed.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1983 by E.C. Publications Inc. (the corporate successor to the original EC Comics), with a cover date of June 1983 — confirmed by both MadCoverSite and the DC Universe Infinite database.
- Cover art by Jack Rickard; cover concept credited to Sergio Aragones, who also contributed his signature wordless marginal pantomime gags throughout the issue.
- The issue contains a Tarzan parody featuring the character's full-name alter ego John Clayton — a figure Mad had been satirizing since issue #2 (1952–53), making Tarzan one of the magazine's longest-running parody subjects.
- A Vincent van Gogh comedic feature appears in the issue, continuing Mad's tradition of mixing fine-art and historical figures with pop-culture satire.
- The Q.T. the Quasi-Terrestrial piece — an E.T. movie parody written by Stan Hart and drawn by Jack Davis — had already debuted in the prior issue (#236) and was reprinted across at least 10 subsequent Mad collections, illustrating how content from this editorial era had remarkable anthology legs.
- Sergio Aragones' marginal cartoons appear throughout, consistent with his near-continuous presence in the magazine from 1963 onward.
- Al Feldstein served as editor, maintaining the regular publication schedule he had kept since the late 1950s — a continuity that kept Mad as EC's sole survivor through this era.
- Mad at this time was published as a magazine rather than a comic book, a format shift originally made with issue #24 (1955), which kept it outside the Comics Code Authority's jurisdiction and allowed its satirical range to remain unrestricted.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Mad #171 (1983), Mad #255 (1983), Mad #172 (1983), Mad #173 (1983), Mad #174 (1983), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #66 (1989), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #67 (1989), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #70 (1990), Mad for Decades #[nn] (2007)
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