Since this is Mad Magazine, why not read the books out of sequence? I never read the original book but Number two I have read. I bought this for my son and I must confess that I ended up reading these old Mad pieces from the days when sideburns were long and lapels were wide. Thus, the illustrations date the book as do some of the issues being parodied. Rememebr the Old days when the "On the Lighter Side" series dealt with a single subject? This book goes back to those days. All in all, this is a great trip down Memory Lane as I recall some of the hilarious older issues of Mad. There is one problem with this book: my son left it where it belongs, in the barthroom, and some guests mistook it for toilet paper. Oh well!!!

This isn't one of those books that focuses on one style of writing like TV, Movies, Dogs, or MAD covers, but it gives you the whole SHABANG! This book, correction, work of art, is a combination of tha best articles from tha best MAD writers of all time! Not only did I read it while on the pot like I was supposed too, I read it over and over everywhere I possibly was! I couldn't help myself! Another must have from the Usual Gang of Idiots!

Greate idea for a book. Apart from burning it. You can read some of Mad's greatest articles in shortened form! It rocks! I can't think of anyone better to write an introduction than the man who brought life to Canibal!the musical, Orgazmo and BASEketball (Ignoring South Park) to life! Yes, trey parker! Buy it

Superman and Batman appear on the cover of "Mad About Super Heroes," along with Alfred E. Newman, because most of the parodies found within have to do with those two comic book icons. For the Man of Steel the fun goes all the way back to Harvey Kurtzman's classic "Superduperman!" from "Mad" #4 (back when it was still a comic book) to "Smellville" from Mad #415. However, "Superduperman!", the parody of the comic book, is not to be confused with "Superduperman" the take off on the first movie, which were followed by "Spuerduperman II" and "Stuporman ZZZ," which is not to be confused with the television series "Lotus & Cluck: The New Misadventures of Stuporman." One of the things I found interesting reading through these stories was how hard it must be after several decades to come up with a new name for Superman's secret identity, from Clark Bent to Cluck Camp.

The Caped Crusader receives similar treatment, from the classic Wally Wood drawn "Bat Boy and Rubin!" to "Bats-Man" the television show to the blockbuster "Battyman" movie and its "Buttman Returns" and "Buttman and Rubbin'" sequels. This collection comes courtesy of "the usual gang of super-idiots," and includes classic artwork by Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones, Al Jafee, Angelo Torres, and Don Martin (these guys must have worked for nothing because this book is, by its own admission, priced "Cheap!). There are two sections in the volume that offer up the stories in full-color, but, of course, these are restricted to offerings from the comic book days of "Mad" (e.g., "Plastic Sam" and "Woman Wonder") and back covers (e.g, "Famous Artists' Paintings of Comic Book Characters").

There are other full-length movie parodies as well of the "X-Men" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies, although I liked the "Upcoming Movies Based on Comic Books," which simply offered up quickies on "Human Torch Song Triology," "Hulk Fiction" and "JLA Confidential." Another favorite is the "Real-Life Superhoeres at Comic Book Conventions," which uses the names of familiar heroes from "The Amazing Spider-Man" to "Wonder Woman" to describe the fans who read such literature. So there is a nice mix of formats to these comic looks at the comic books as the world's greatest super heroes are "mercilessly mocked and ridiculed by the world's dumbest artists and writers." Of course, if you did not read the original comics or see these movies, then you will never ever get all of the jokes. But then that is the whole point of satire, right?

This was a great book to just laugh at.

This book is a must-have for anyone with an interest in cartooning and humorous illustration in general. I had the first edition of this paperback (published in 1973)... that edition has a different cover and shows up in used bookstores occasionally. The chapters about Jack Davis and Mort Drucker were great... two very good Mad Magazine artists (along with Sergio Aragones and Al Jaffee). But my all-time favorite part of this book is the chapter that focuses on Bob Jones. Bob is a great funny animal (anthropomorphic animal) illustrator who created the cartoon Exxon Tiger (also known as the Esso Tiger), a famous icon in America and around the world. There are several great pictures of the Exxon tiger in this book including a model sheet with different expressions! This part of the book alone is great because it's so hard to find pictures of the cartoon tiger like unless you go to the Exxon web site or find old advertisements for Exxon/Esso with pictures of the tiger. In fact, you can go to the Exxon (or ExxonMobil) web site [...] and enter "tiger" in the search field for info from the company about the character. Exxon introduced its cartoon tiger in 1964 as the star of its 'Put a Tiger in Your Tank' ad campaign. (May be hard to find cartoon images now because of the Kelloggs vs. Exxon Lawsuit lost by Exxon in 2000). Anyway, other artists featured in this book are Federico Fellini, Paul Coker, Will Eisner, Jules Feiffer, Gerry Gersten, Johnny Hart, Donald Reilly, Norman Rockwell, Arnold Roth and Maurice Sendack.

First off, I would NOT recommend this book for people with weak stomachs or a sophisicated sense of humor. This is Mad at its best(or worst)earning laughs with fart jokes, mucsus jokes, pee jokes (you get the idea). Any moral person will feel slightly guilty at laughing at such crudeness, but laugh you will. My only complaint about the collection is that there are not a lot of classic Mad features. But overall, if you want your humor totally gross, and very funny, this is the book!

This is a very good book! Worth buying, yes I believe so. This is much better than tha MAD About the Movies because it has more flavor and has better comics about the TV world in MAD's perspective. I really like this book, but it doesn't compare to some of the five star work MAD has done with such books as MAD's Bathroom Companion and MAD's Half-Wit & Wisdom of Alfred E. Neumann. If you like TV and Movie spoofs, and you can relate to a lot of them, than this is one to buy! If you are just looking for a laugh, this would be a good book to have, but not before some of the others!

Who else could send us to our graves laughing in delight other than Mad? Answer : Nobody. The boys are ate it again, with these classic spoofs of all our favorite sitcoms, soap operas and cartoons. My personal favoirtes are : When Seasame street joins the vast political right wing and the spoof on Kung-Fu (Kung Fool). You really can't go wrong with mad, aside from Calvin and Hobbes's creator and writer Bill Watterson, these guys are the only ones who can make me laugh out loud while reading the gags. If your new to MAD then this is the perfect place to start, even though I'm too young to have seen all the shows that are in this book I still get a kick out of reading them and you will too. I reccomend getting this one first, before checking out the other books MAD has to offer. This is the perfect gift for anyone at anytime, so cheer them up and make 'em laugh to death!

This book is incredibly funny with parodies of tv shows that you enjoy. From the original Batman series to X-Files this book has it all!!

I consider myself one of the biggest MAD fans in the world, but this book is a bit lame to the high standards of MAD. Maybe I just can't relate to all the movies because I'm not a big fan of the movie spoofs. Tha reason the book got two stars was merely because of the comics about movies in general, and a few good jokes by the likes of Dick DeBartolo and other great MAD writers.

I love Mad magazine and I love all movies, so this book was the BEST thing that combines the two!

Book brings back the glory days of both Warner Brothers Pictures and Mad Magazine

Ever have an art instructor who, well meaning as he or she was, would simply toss out inspirational, yet impractical advice? This is what this book is, an art instruction book by an art teacher who goes by the toothless philosophy of, "You learn to draw by drawing," and "If you sit there long enough, you will learn to draw." In this type of approach to art education, the basic idea is that learning to draw is an intuitive process-- no need for rules or principles; just sit there and draw!

The problem with this type of attitude is many-fold. For one, it does the worst thing it can do for beginners, and that is to mystify the art process. (In other words, it makes the process of art so mysterious that learning to draw becomes esoterica and the posession of the Anointed Few-- i.e., the geniuses and prodigies who somehow can "get it" while the rest of humankind can't.) Secondly, it encourages students to ignore the real practical tools that they will need to learn how to draw. In other words, if I'm a beginner and I read Meglin's book that pretty much says, "Hey-- screw the principles and rules of drawing; just sit there and draw!" I'm not going to want to learn helpful things like the rules of perspective or human anatomy or tonal values. This is a big mistake! Unless you truly are a whiz at art, approaching drawing like this (forget the rules/ just draw from your heart) will just have you sitting there spinning your wheels like I did for several years in art college.

The last problem with this book is that it teaches an undisciplined approach to drawing and observation. There's nothing wrong with "learning to draw from observation" as long as you're disciplined about it. From experience I have learned that the best way to draw from observation is to have a purpose while doing it-- i.e., don't just go out there with a sketchbook and draw whatever you feel; set a goal (for example, decide one day to draw differnet types of trees; another day, to draw animals, etc.). This book doesn't teach that, which I think is the worst thing you can teach an art student.

Because of these reasons, I must rate this book a two. If you're a real honest to beginner, I suggest reading the under-rated Keys to Drawing. Otherwise, skip this book.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I enjoyed some things about it quite a bit. Particularly the assignments at the end of each chapter. I liked these so much I wish there had been more. But the majority of the book is about relating why drawing can not be taught. Ok...on one level I can agree with that. Obviously someone who only occasionally draws, sits around thinking about drawing, listening to a teacher lecture about drawing or reading about drawing isn't going to learn how to draw or get better at it. But on another level I'm not so sure having an instructor is not helpful. Otherwise, why did the authors even bother to write this book?

Also, simply drawing - even making tons of drawings everyday - is no guarantee you'll get better. As someone who plays classical guitar and the banjo I can attest that HOW you practice drawing effects you just as much (although I agree this is best assessed by your own personal goals of what getting 'better' is). As the old saying goes, "practice wrong and you only get better at getting it wrong." So think carefully about your own needs and what you are looking for. Do you find yourself suffering from blocks, anxiety about what to draw or too much of the silent inner critic? If so then the chapters in this book may be quite helpful and enjoyable for you. If, however, you are in need of practical tips for spurring further creative efforts there may be other books that are more suited to your needs.

I can sum up the book's philosophy in one sentence, "just do it." That's it. The entire book's chapters are filled with arguments about why you only get better at drawing by actually drawing. Along with some of the authors' opinions that trying to teach drawing skills is a futile effort. So again, I say, think carefully about your own needs. What exactly are you searching for in a book about unleashing creativity? If you have a hard time being creative because of internal conflicts this book could be quite helpful. If you are NOT in need of a self-help oriented book there are other books on the market that may be more suited to what you're looking for. For example, the assignments at the end of each chapter is something I truly enjoyed. You get the same thing many times over from Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing without the self-help psychological component of Drawing From Within.

So the bottom line is - do you want a drawing book where most of the pages contain psychological pep talk and annecdotes for overcoming "blank page" block? Or do you want a more practical exercises/tips book? Your answer will determine if this book will be enjoyable and helpful to you.

This book is a worthwhile addition to my "how-to" shelf for a number of reasons. It's one of the few books that addresses the idea of removing your own stumbling blocks to improve your skill as an artist. Very often, the biggest obstacle to getting something down on the page is yourself: some bad habit you've picked up, or a good habit you haven't developed. Better still, the book has lots of sketches by well-known artists and illustrators that you wouldn't get to see otherwise: a nice look at their own thinking and drawing habits!