By Dr. Klopek — THE Halloweeniac of Mayfield Place
Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, Cracked magazine kicked off the Halloween season (usually in the summer) with its Cracked Monster Party mag. It was chock full of Halloween- and monster-themed comics (some several pages, some single panels and others full two-page spreads).
That kind of thing is back! MAD magazine just recently dropped 96 pages of hilarious horror in a special edition mag called “MAD Haunts Halloween.” It offers up classic comics and drawings from the 1950s, ‘60s, ’70s, ‘80s, ‘90s . . . at this point, I should’ve just put “1950s to 2020.”
The cover of this issue alone is enough to get you into the Halloween spirit with it’s orange and blue hues, carved pumpkins sitting on the porch of a presumed haunted house, Halloween treats strewn across the wood planks of the porch as if unsuspecting trick-or-treaters were chased off by some “thing” and dumped their pumpkin pails. There’s a spider and accompanying spiderweb, an approaching zombie, flittering bats, a glowing full moon . . . it’s all there to enjoy.
Within the pages are stories and art from MAD favorites like Sergio Aragonés, Don Martin, Jack Davis, Antonio Proxies, Dick DeBartolo, Tom Bunk and one of our personal favorites, Don “Duck” Edwing. Monsters within run the gamut, with the likes of ghosts, Frankenstein’s Monster, the bride of Frankenstein, ghoulies, Svengoolie, Batman, Dracula (the original batman), the gill man, the wolf man, the mummy, the daddy, the devil and those who the devil made them do it.
The two-page spread of rejected monster cereals is a tasty treat. Hellog’s Sweet Succubus Crunch looks to die for. Vault-O-Meal’s Cinnamon Toastferatu is advertised as a necessary part of a balanced midnight snack, blehh! That box comes with a free toy inside — cinnamon fangs.
The piece on Possessed Barbie’s Nightmare House is cute. Oh, look, she comes with a refillable vomit spewing blaster bulb. Gotta get it!
There’s one particular cartoon that’s on “The Lighter Side of Halloween” that totally speaks my language — it’s regarding those “fun size” candy bars you get trick-or-treating. I, too, want to know what rascal deemed such a small size to be “fun.”
Anyway, “MAD Haunts Halloween” packs a pulverizing punch. If feels classic, yet new, and it brings back memories of those issues of Cracked Monster Party of yesteryear that really were perfect season-setters. While out on the town, I spotted copies of the mag at Barnes and Noble and Target. Not sure what’s going on with grocery stores near me — they dumped the mag aisle altogether, except for those little rag racks at the check-out stands. Boo! And I don’t mean that in a “scared you” kind of way.
