Bananas #46, 3 of 3

Bananas #46, 2 of 3

Editor Jovial Bob Stine went on to write the GOOSEBUMPS series of horror novels for kids, and their top artist Sam Viviano, after doing work for various MAD rip-offs, is now art director for MAD.

Bananas #46, 1 of 3

BANANAS started out as similar to DYNAMITE, but for older readers. It was kind of THE ELECTRIC COMPANY to DYNAMITE's SESAME STREET. It was published by Scholastic, which made its money from a captive audience. Kids were given fliers in school so parents would be pressured into buying books from them.

BANANAS started out doing profiles of celebrities and current fads like 16 or TIGER BEAT, and pull-out posters of them. Since they were targeted at the same demographic as MAD, they had the same kinds of parodies and “You Know You're a Schnook When..” types of articles. They eventually became an all-humor magazine with one difference...they were in color. As you can see, they relied heavily on movie and TV stills they got