Going MAD

When I was a kid I can remember going out into the garage to explore.  My parents had one of those garages that were used for storage more then housing a car.  There was all kinds of cool stuff out there to discover, not the least of which was a giant box of matches I once found.  I remember starting a few small fires in the ditch behind our house and one burning just a little bigger then I had planned.   It's amazing what the fear of a good spanking will do to crush the desires of a 7 year old.  At that point my pyromania were pretty much extinguished.

One of the other things I remember about that garage were the mountains of boxes stacked up with back issues of Hot Rod magazines.  Apparently when my father was in his teens and early twenties he had quite the affinity for all things fast.  He had a 1969 Charger (purple with white top) that was "upgraded" and meticulously cared for.  It's was kind of funny 'cause I can never remember actually seeing my dad do anything with a car other then wash and wax it, but I guess he was quite the grease monkey as a kid.  I remember tucking a few of those magazines in my coat to take with me to school to show my buddies.  I really had no clue what I was looking at, nor was I a huge fan of Hot Rods, but my buddies dug 'em and, yeah sure, there were a few lovely models to go along with the car pics as well.

The other magazine that dad seemed to collect was MAD.  I think he must've had every issue ever printed.  There were piles and piles of them.  Of course when you only stand 3 feet tall, a stack of 8 boxes seems like Mt. Everest.  I used to sit in a quite corner of the garage and spend hours flipping through the pages of MAD.  Of course most of the jokes I was really too young to understand, but I loved the Spy vs. Spy and the back cover art that required you to fold the page a certain way in order to see the hidden picture.  I think even to this day dad still gets that magazine.  So when I was in Borders last weekend it was a no brainer when I saw what would be the perfect gift for dad this year.


Mad's Greatest Artists: The Completely Mad Don Martin


This is a huge volume.  It covers art work from 1957-1987.  It is in a large 2 volume set (the pic doesn't do the size justice) and features the art work of Don Martin who arguably was the genius that mad MAD the successful magazine that it is.  If you read my previous blog you know that searching for a gift for dear old dad is not an easy task.  I had found a few things online that were kind of cool but in the end, they all seemed just a bit too impersonal.  For me finding a gift that says I know you and not just I remembered you brings far greater joy to the experience.  I think I've accomplished that this year.  We'll see.