ABSOLUTELY MAD

ABSOLUTELY MAD collects Mad Magazine on one disc and includes everything from its first issue to 2005. That's 52 years of MAD. MAD is one of those universal things a lotta cartoonists have in common. I had my MAD passion in the 1970s. I remember taking my dough to dad so he could write the check for the subscription. Gathering up those couple of dollars was a tough thing to do, but MAD was worth it.

A couple of people (at Amazon and BoingBoing) have written that ABSOLUTELY MAD is on 1 DVD, not 2 (as Amazon says). Regardless, it sounds better than the previous version -- a multi-DVD-ROM set that is PC-only which came out a while ago. I always have to go through a couple of discs when I do a search for, for instance, Don Martin's "Near Sighted Strongman's Club" cartoon.

The new set also has interviews and SPY VS. SPY animations from MAD TV episodes.

But to hear that there isn't a sound file for the "Gall in the Family Fare" parody -- which was a vinyl record that was stapled into a Mad Special that yours truly carefully pulled out and then played on a record player, over and over and over (and then me and my friends got together and acted it out) -- to hear that this is missing is just plain wrong, kids!

And speaking of the late, great Don Martin, it's just 3 weeks until National Gorilla Suit Day! Don't forget!