CRACKED COLLECTORS' EDITION #86, 1 of 3

Here's another Cracked Collectors' Edition, #86 from April 1991 of the best of their spy spoofs and collecting the Spies and Saboteurs cartoons they would have in the margins, sort of their version of the Mad Marginal cartoons Sergio Aragones did for Mad.

The cover by John Severin and Michael Ricigliano folded out.

The inside front and back covers also had Severin's version of the Gulliver's Travels illustration, but with different defacements by Ricigliano.

Parody of The Spy Who Loved Me. Notice the “O. O. Severin” signature use since it was a James Bond spoof.

I pity the fool who can't appreciate their version of The A-Team.

Next Wednesday: More from this issue

CRAZY #28

Yet another issue of Crazy cover-dated August 1977

Cover by Bob Larkin of the stars of The Donny and Marie Show as the couple from American Gothic. Inside front cover. The parody of Donny and Marie as featured on the cover, drawn by Murad Gumen. Written by J.M. DeMatteis and drawn by Jerry Grandenetti Art by Alan Kupperberg. Art by David Wenzel Gary Brodsky Alan Hanley wrote and drew this piece. He makes references to Billy Graham, Woody Allen before he was taken seriously as a filmmaker, and Joe Namath. All of them are still alive. Almost all are Marvel characters. It is a Marvel magazine, after all. Pictured are Ghost Rider, Marvel Girl, Thor, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Daredevil, Bucky, Howard the Duck, Incredible Hulk, Nick Fury, Silver Surfer, Sergeant Fury, Flash, Tawny Tiger, Conan the Barbarian, Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Spider-Man, Superman, Charlie Brown, Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Human Torch, Stan Lee, Salami Man, Batman.

Yeah, I'm a geek, just not usually this kind. Someone once said I was a twig on an evolutionary branch. This has always been my favorite superhero spoof though. I thought the idea of the Hulk taking a dump was really funny when I was nine. Maybe to a certain extent, I still do. Michael Ricigliano explains his pen name in the book If You're Cracked, You're Happy:

When I left Cracked after the one year I was the editor there, [publisher] Bob Sproul was not happy. He was upset that I was leaving. He wanted me to stay as the editor. So I left, and he told me that I couldn’t do stuff anymore. I kept submitting stuff and I made a papier-mâché dummy and I made a few years back here in town for the owner of the Colts and it got a lot of play, nationally. My 15 minutes of fame as an artist. I also had a dummy of myself called Joe the Dummy spelled Thadummi like an Italian name, so I was submitting stuff under the name Joe Thadummi!! After a while, Sproul caught on. I wasn’t very good at hiding and banished me for a few more issues until he finally let me do stuff again. Another comics parody, this time drawn by Tony Tallarico. References to celebrities of the time. Another reminder this was a Marvel Magazine. Parody of Marathon Man drawn by Walter Brogan. Back cover of the issue.

CRAZY #27

CRAZY #27 Another issue of Crazy, this time #27 from July 1977. Cover, as always, by Bob Larkin Parody of The Bionic Woman illustrated by Walter Brogan Tony Tallarico Alan Kupperberg I'm not sure if David Wenzel is any relation to Bill Wenzel. David Manak Bob McLeod Gary Brodsky Ray Billingsley I had Sam Viviano for a caricature teacher at School of Visual Arts. Even though I rarely use likeness in my own work he did teach me to apply it to my own style. He taught his students that in order to do credible caricatures to use the whole body rather than just the face.

I started the second semester even though the catalog said exclusively not to, so deservedly went through “hazing” on my first day. Towards the end of class, he had us all draw him, and he stopped picking on me when he realized I had a vicious streak myself and drew his head on the end of a penis.

He mentioned in his class how Crazy was one of his first clients starting out, and when he asked if he could do movie and TV satires, they told him he didn't draw enough like Mort Drucker. Ironically, he later became Drucker's boss as art director of Mad.

The monologue is delivered by Henny Youngman. Pictured in the audience are Danny Thomas, Carol Burnett, George Carlin, Paul Lynde, Lily Tomlin, Groucho Marx, Buddy Hackett, Jimmy Walker, Don Rickles, Gabe Kaplan, Louise Lasser, Chevy Chase, Johnny Carson, George Burns, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Milton Berle, Redd Foxx, Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, ?, Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Mel Brooks, David Brenner. Mike Thadummi is Mike Ricigliano who had to use a pseudonym. A big deal was made about how Jimmy Carter did an interview with Playboy before he became President. It's where the quote “I've lusted after women in my heart” came from, another piece of comedy fodder at the time.