Mad #60

History

Published by EC Publications on January 10, 1961 (cover-dated January 1961) under editor Al Feldstein, the issue was assembled during the anxious weeks surrounding the 1960 presidential election. The flip-book cover concept — two mirrored Bob Clarke paintings of Alfred E. Neuman posing with either Kennedy (blue title text) or Nixon (red title text) — was prepared in advance so that the correct face could greet readers on newsstands after votes were counted. Prohías, a Cuban expatriate who had fled Havana on May 1, 1960, three days before Castro nationalized Cuba's last free press, walked unannounced into Mad's New York offices on July 12, 1960, with his daughter Marta as interpreter; Feldstein and publisher William Gaines were initially skeptical but purchased three Spy vs. Spy strips that day, with the first appearing here. The contributors' roster — writers Frank Jacobs, Gary Belkin, and Larry Siegel alongside artists Mort Drucker, Wally Wood, Dave Berg, and Joe Orlando — represented Mad's deep bench of mid-period talent at full strength.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Spy vs. Spy (The Black Spy and The White Spy), created by Cuban expatriate cartoonist Antonio Prohías; the wordless Cold War parody strip debuted in this issue dated January 1961 and became one of Mad's longest-running features.
• Prohías modeled the two spies on his earlier Cuban character El Hombre Siniestro, a wide-brimmed-hat, long-nosed figure he had created for the Cuban magazine Bohemia in 1956; he signed each strip's first panel in Morse code spelling 'BY PROHIAS.'
• The issue is a flip-book with two distinct covers, both painted by Bob Clarke: one congratulates President-elect John F. Kennedy (with blue title text) and the other congratulates Richard Nixon (with red title text), allowing retailers to display whichever was seasonally appropriate after the November 1960 election.
• Alfred E. Neuman appears on both covers, flanking the caricatured Kennedy and Nixon respectively in identical compositional poses — an early example of Mad using its mascot as a neutral political stand-in.
• The issue includes 'The Mad Shakespeare Primer,' scripted by Phil Hahn with art by Wally Wood, a storybook-format parody of Shakespeare plays (the source of the Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar character appearances in this issue).
• Other notable features: 'The Producer and I,' a Hollywood-system spoof of the musical The King and I with art by Mort Drucker; 'Dieting,' written and drawn by Dave Berg; 'The European Tourists' Guide to the United States,' scripted by Frank Jacobs with art by Joe Orlando; and a standalone humor page, 'Mad Congratulates John Kennedy,' scripted and drawn by Bob Clarke.
• Editor was Al Feldstein; the issue ran 52 black-and-white pages at a cover price of 25 cents, published by EC Publications, Inc. at 225 Lafayette Street, New York.
• Prohías personally drew Spy vs. Spy through Mad #269 (March 1987), completing 241 strips; Peter Kuper took over as full-time writer-artist with issue #356 (April 1997), and the strip has continued, with interruptions, into the 2020s.

Cast · 14 characters

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#21 1st appearance — Alfred E. Neuman