Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #36

In this delightfully absurd Mad Special parody, comic strip icons collide in a wild operatic romp where Rex Morgan’s villainous scheme to steal Annie’s eyes kicks off a rescue mission unlike any other. With a chorus of classic characters and a plot as twisted as a comic panel, Sandy rallies Dick Tracy and Tarzan—aided by the ever-unsuspecting Snuffy Smith—for a showdown that’s equal parts slapstick and satire.

"Adult TV Cartoons" takes a satirical swipe at the idea that classic animated series borrowed too heavily from live-action TV—like how The Flintstones supposedly mirrored The Honeymooners. With deadpan humor and sharp visual gags, it imagines a world where every cartoon is just a rehash of a real show, turning familiar tropes into absurd, exaggerated parodies.

In this satirical take on celebrity and change, Charlie Brown’s former friend returns to the Peanuts neighborhood only to find the once-familiar characters transformed by fame and fortune—each now distant, self-absorbed, and unrecognizable in their new, polished lives. The story skewers the idea of success with sharp humor and familiar faces, all rendered in Mad’s signature deadpan style.

What if legendary writers dipped their pens into classic comics? Mad Special #36 imagines a delightfully absurd world where Paddy Chayefsky gives Donald Duck a crisis of existential dread, Gilbert & Sullivan turn Dick Tracy into a musical melodrama, and Tennessee Williams turns Little Orphan Annie into a tragic study of loneliness—all in a playful, satirical 4-page romp that skewers both literary giants and comic strips with sharp wit and zero pretense.

If "Peanuts" Were a Weekly TV Series imagines a world where the classic characters star in a rotating lineup of absurd, over-the-top sitcoms and dramas—each with increasingly ridiculous premises. From Young Doctor Brown’s medical mishaps to The Chuck Brown Show’s chaotic live studio chaos, the strip skewers the idea of turning childhood melancholy into mass entertainment.