The greatest news in cartoon books this fall is hands-down the publication of The Completely MAD Don Martin. As every Arf Lover knows, Don Martin was a fucking genius. “Brilliant” doesn’t even begin to describe the hilarious and unique work he produced over a thirty year period for Mad Magazine. Now, every last piece he produced for MAD has been compiled in a gift set of staggering proportions by Running Press. And today I’m proud to present an Arf Lovers exclusive as we chat with Jon Anderson, publisher of Running Press.
Craig: Jon, I’m absolutely thrilled that this set is being published.
Jon: I’m thrilled, too. Like anyone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, Mad Magazine was a huge influence on me. All the contributors were brilliant, but Don Martin was the one that seemed to inhabit an entirely different creative plane. The most wonderful thing about this project has been the opportunity to reacquaint myself with material I hadn’t seen in over thirty years. It instantly took me back, and I was astounded at how incredibly fresh and funny Don Martin (photo below) still is.
How did the project come about?
I had been talking with the folks at Mad for years about wanting to collect the works of their best and most prolific artists. The result is going to be a series of deluxe boxed sets concentrating on one artist at a time. We’ve begun with Don Martin, but future years will bring Jack Davis, Al Jaffe, Sergio Aragones, Mort Drucker, etc.
And I hope my very fave Wally Wood! Anyhoo, this Don Martin set is the perfect beginning for things to come. It doesn’t look like you spared anything.
That was the idea. We were so determined to produce a true collector’s item that we went and hired the same folks who had produced The Complete Far Side and The Complete Calvin & Hobbes collections of a few years ago. The set is two volumes, 1,000 pages, slip-cased, and is printed on such high-quality paper that it weighs in at over twenty pounds. The retail price is $150 (Cheap!). And we were able to get appreciation pieces from almost all of Martin’s Mad colleagues as well as a wonderful introduction from Gary Larson.
Larson! Trez cool! And, BTW only $94.50 (Real Cheap) on Amazon. Is there anything the set doesn’t have?
The only thing we don’t have that I would have loved to include is the Captain Klutz material. However, that was all done for the Warner Books paperback line and never appeared in the magazine itself. Since this is specifically Martin’s complete work from the magazine, we ultimately decided not to stray from that mandate. The end result is a celebration of Don Martin’s Mad Magazine career, and it does include every single illustration he produced over a span of thirty years as a contributor, including the stickers, posters and other ephemera.
(Hurry and click to order to secure your set)
How is it selling in?
We’re sold out. Every last copy we printed has been spoken for. They’re all on their way to stores now, and the printing process is too time-consuming for us to have any more for this holiday season. Any place that sells books should have them, but when they sell what they ordered, that will be it for this year. I would encourage anyone who wants a copy this year, one of the first editions, to get it right after it goes on sale at the end of October or better yet pre-order it to, as they way, avoid disappointment.
Me glad I’ve scored my copy already.
Selling it was a fascinating exercise, Craig. What we found was that if we mentioned Don Martin’s name to a buyer over the age of forty, the sale was made on the spot. They were instantly familiar with him and fully understood the potential. Buyers who were under forty were a different story. Other than those who knew comics, they mostly scratched their heads and asked: Who is Don Martin? When we proceeded to show them his work, they recognized it, but it wasn’t until they mentioned the project to older co-workers that they began to realize how many copies they would be able to sell.
They didn’t know who Don Martin was?!? I suffer the fools! He’s merely Mad’s Maddest artist! I’ll definitely look forward to future additions to the Mad’s Greatest Artists series. Think Wood, Jon! Speaking for myself, that’s how how I start every morning.
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C. Yoe (in the funny papers)
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