Al Jaffee, longtime 'Mad Magazine' cartoonist, dies at 102

[Meanderer]

NEW YORK — Al Jaffee, Mad Magazine's award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," has died. He was 102.
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Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99.

 

[Pepper]

Thanks, a great man, Al Jaffee.

 

[Meanderer]

"For more than a half-century, Al Jaffee reveled in a high-profile position that most any true humorist would aspire to: He had the privilege of smartly corrupting generations of American youth. We are all the better for it."

 

[horseless carriage]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65265531
Dame Mary Quant passes away at age 93.
She launched the miniskirt that became the emblem of London’s Swinging Sixties.

 

[Meanderer]

"While the “Fold-In” showcased Jaffee’s drawing and writing skills, “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” — which Jaffee debuted in 1965 — was all about quickfire quips and burns. In an interview (originally published in Mike Sacks’ 2009 book, And Here’s the Kicker, with a longer version printed in Vulture last month), Jaffee explained the origins of the segment, saying it occurred to him when he was trying to fix an antenna on the roof of his house."

“Suddenly, I heard my son climbing up this ladder. He asked me a question that he asked every time he came home from school: ‘Where’s Mom?’ And I answered, ‘I killed her and I’m stuffing her down this chimney.’ He knew I was kidding, obviously, but I thought about this afterward, and it occurred to me that there must be a million times a day we all get asked questions to which you either don’t know the answer or it’s a pointless question. Up on the roof, how the hell would I know where Mom was?”

" Jaffee was widely lauded for his work over the years. He won numerous prizes from the National Cartoonists society in the Seventies, and in 2007, he won the industry’s top prize, the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year."

 

[Frank from Cleveland]

"For more than a half-century, Al Jaffee reveled in a high-profile position that most any true humorist would aspire to: He had the privilege of smartly corrupting generations of American youth. We are all the better for it."

One slight problem for hardcore purist collectors (If memory serves me) is that the value of a magazine goes down a bit if there is a tear or fold in the cover or the pages- it is no longer considered in MINT condition. And I bet there are a large portion of MAD magazines in many collections where the back cover is folded. I don't care either way as i loved it whenever a new fold-in cover was featured. The man certainly had talent.

 

[Meanderer]

 

[Meanderer]

Introduction to Al Jaffee

On Creativity interview Al Jaffee, Part 1

OnCreativity interview: Al Jaffee, Part 2

 

[OldFeller]

Loved MAD in the 60s and early 70s

 

[Gaer]

He was brilliant! Still is, wherever he might be!

 

[Meanderer]

RIP Al Jaffee!
"We're happy you didn't go away Mad!"

 

[Murrmurr]

Loved MAD in the 60s and early 70s

Me too. Jaffee had a long run, in MAD and in Life (but not the magazine, Life).

 

[Frank from Cleveland]

Me too. Jaffee had a long run, in MAD and in Life (but not the magazine, Life).

(but not the magazine, Life). Good one

 

[Fyrefox]

I read MAD magazine faithfully as a kid. It was an artifact of kid counter-culture, something that the adults could never fully appreciate, but we could snicker over. Kid heaven, and all for 25 cents back in the day, cheap! Then I graduated to National Lampoon…

 

[jujube]

My dad and I would read MAD together and crack up. My mom didn't get the humor.