Review: MAD Magazine #526 – “LEGO (Some Assembly Required)”

Mad Magazine #526

“Lego (Some Assembly Required)”

COVER-  Artist: Mark Fredrickson

This cover is AMAZING! The detail on the Lego characters as well as the detail on Alfred E is visually stunning. I could see this being the type of cover that is in the discussion/argument for top-10 best covers all time!

 

SPY VS. SPY- Writer/Artist: Peter Kuper

The spies both receive a book from a sexy female spy. As they read the stories they quickly realize that these stories are about them so they decided to team up to take her out. Unfortunately for them, the female spy is a step ahead and crushes them under a giant copy of her book

Shockingly, there isn’t a second edition of Spy Vs. Spy this issue.

The Hunger Games Writer: Desmond Devlin Artist: Tim Richmond

The story is basically parodies the Hunger Games almost step for step. The art is fantastically detailed and strikingly well detailed. Sad to see a dead Elmo in the opening page used as a shawl and also to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in this parody after his recent death. I guess it only gets better with time. Let’s hope we can say that for the rest of this edition of MAD as well.

HBO’s Girls- Writer: Scott Maiko. Sculptures: Kira Shaimanova. Photography: Manolo & Jacob, Mako Studios. Book Cover Art: Sarah Chalek.

In a pretty bid departure from what we normally see from the talented artists at MAD, we see spoof of American Girl dolls mimicking characters from Girls. Incredible idea, in my opinion, because it is refreshing to take a few pages off from the animation but still stay cartoony. Each of the four girls gets their own full-page ad where they get a little bio and offer a synopsis of their accompanying book. The dolls are amazingly detailed, almost to a creepy, lifelike level.

OTHER ARTICLES WORTH CHECKING OUT

Other, More Politically Correct NFL Team Names, Surprisingly Mundane Side-Missions From GTA 5, Emoji We’d Love To See, Why The LEGO Man Was Made For Hollywood, A MAD Look At Gravity, Books For The Growing U.S. Obese Community,

JUDGE’S TABLE –  Find But Don’t Buy!

The cover does have a truly iconic feel, but once the pages are open this issue loses a lot of its luster. It was just missing a little bit of something. The Al Jaffe fold in was a stoic nod to The Tonight Show and Jay Leno, which also shouldn’t be missed. Maybe go swipe this from the library, if your town still has one.

*Bubbleblabber does not promote theft. Also, it’s gonna cost you more than it’s worth to actually burn fuel and drive anywhere. Just print out a picture of the cover and call it a day.