Ever wonder what an issue of
Cracked might look like if published now?

The newest issue of
Smoke Signal is partly a
Cracked homage issue starting with a cover by
John Severin. There's a six-page parody of the newest
Transformers movie by
Matthew Thurber and
Benjamin Marra, a two-page
Silver Surfer parody by
Michael DeForge, a tribute to
Charles Rodrigues' Great Moments back covers by
Phil McAndrew, and my own meager version of
Shut-Ups. I like what I did but only hope people will realize it's a
Cracked tribute, and not representative of my work if it's someone's first exposure to it.

Here is the original
Shut-Ups from #159, the May 1979 issue of
Cracked, for comparison:

There's also pages with Kaz's
Underworld, Tony Millionaire's
Maakies, and Bill Griffith's
Zippy, as well as work by
Noah VanSciver,
Jim Rugg,
James Turek,
Dane Martin,
Keith Jones,
Jesse McManus, and Donny Robinson.
As I've mentioned before, it's free in the Brooklyn area.
I should be plugging my own work, but I get so few comics anymore besides what people send me and what I see on the web, I had to mention the one comic I plan to actually buy, namely
Mark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010 even though it's already getting plenty of attention without my help. Besides, when my books come out, I expect
Michael Kupperman will return the favor.