It’s not every day that a single issue of a periodical is historically noteworthy not just in comics terms, but on a real-world basis as well. This flip-book issue is the rare exception. Your Major Spoilers Retro Review of MAD Magazine #60 awaits!

MAD MAGAZINE #60

Writer/Penciler/Inker/Letterer: The Usual Gang of Idiots
Editor: Al Feldstein
Publisher: EC Publications, Inc.
Cover Price: 25 Cents
Current Near-Mint Pricing:
Release Date: January 10, 1961

Previously in MAD Magazine: With his partner, Jack Liebowitz, Max Gaines was the founder of All-American Publications, the comic book publisher that originated The Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and more characters that we still read about today. All-American partnered in marketing and promotion with National Allied Publications, the home of Batman, Superman, and other characters, with both companies’ heroes working together in the pages of All-Star Comics as the Justice Society of America. The two companies parted ways, but in 1944 National’s publisher purchased All-American Publishing outright from Gaines, The only thing Gaines kept control of was Picture Stories from the Bible, a book that become the center of his new publishing venture, an attempt to teach science, history, and Biblical concepts to the children who already loved comics. Max’s death in 1947 left the company, Educational Comics, in the control of his son, Bill Gaines, who wasted little time rebranding EC as Entertaining Comics. Along with their celebrated horror, science fiction and military books came the premier humor title of the age, MAD Magazine.

By 1960, MAD had branched out from the standard comic book humor to pointed parodies of movies, TV, and theatre, even branching out into political humor. This issue’s cover is the perfect example, combining satire with the very real desire to have a book that could be shelved after the contentious 1960 presidential election. This issue also features an important milestone of a semi-political nature: The debut of one of the book’s signature features: Spy Vs. Spy!
The first strip seems like nothing more than well-drawn black comedy with really stellar, simple designs, but the existence of Spy Vs. Spy is as political as the cover(s) of this issue. If you can read Morse code, you will see that the dots and dashes under the title read “By Prohias.” Already well-known as a political cartoonist in his native Cuba by 1960, Antonio Prohias was targeted by Fidel Castro, escaping the country only days before Castro’s regime nationalized the newspapers, essentially ending free press in Cuba. Thus, the man who was falsely accused of being a spy used the experience to create two of the most famous spies of all.

The premise is fully formed here in these first appearances, with the two spies using any and all tricks to take out their foe. The fact that they’re absolutely identical save for the color of their spy-suits is a meaningful detail, but both The Man In Black and The Man In White are based on a previous creation, El Hombre Siniestro (The Sinister Man) whom Prohias created as a sort of embodiment of what he saw as the psychosis of his home country and its people.
The Black Spy’s seeming death in that last panel is only the first of hundreds of ironic and blackly hilarious deaths in the strip’s history. Over the years, we find out very little about the protagonists, other than that White Spy works for “The West” and Black Spy works for “The East”, but even those designations seem arbitrary. Their ideologies aren’t important, only their fascinating fanaticism. Prohias drew the strip himself for more than a quarter-century, handing it off to other creators in 1987. Though he occasionally contributed afterwards, Prohias passed away in 1998, with Spy Vs. Spy outliving him by several decades. MAD itself ceased publication of new material in 2019, but as of the latest issue, dated August 2022, the Black and White Spies are still appearing in reprinted material.

There are only three SvS strips in this issue, with the rest consisting of skewering Shakespeare, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals, and the TV show Naked City. There’s also this two-page strip by the legendary Don Martin.
Honestly, there’s nothing like a little Don Martin hinged-foot nonsense to brighten up your day. Then again, I grew up with the 70s and 80s MAD, the timeframe when it was a noteworthy part of the cultural zeitgeist. I’ve found dozens of sellers offering MAD Magazine #60 with a note about the covers, but seeing Prohias hit the ground running with his greatest creation is the real show here, with the issue earning a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars overall. I

---

Dear Spoilerite,

At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.

j

MAD MAGAZINE #60

83%

83%

History In The Making

It's an issue steeped in the world of 1960 and even if you don't know the cultural references, it's a really fun read.

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou beside me... and pretty soon I'll be fat, drunk and in trouble!" - Alfred E. Neuman

• Writing

  9
• Art

  10
• Coloring

  6
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0