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| MAD's Greatest Artists: The Completely MAD Don Martin (MAD's Greatest Artists Series) | 
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| Author: Don Martin
Publisher: Running Press
Category: Book
List Price: $150.00
Buy New: $49.99
You Save: $100.01 (67%)
New (34) Used (9) Collectible (1) from $44.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 27748
Format: Box Set
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1200
Shipping Weight (lbs): 15.6
Dimensions (in): 13.7 x 10.3 x 3.7
ISBN: 0762430508
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.56973
EAN: 9780762430505
ASIN: 0762430508
Publication Date: October 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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Product Description
The Gift Book of the Season. Just about everyone who came of age during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s was influenced by MAD MAGAZINE, and no one at MAD was more influential than "MAD's MADdest Artist," Don Martin. His immediately recognizable style--featuring bulbous noses, wild sound effects, and the legendary "hinged feet"--was filled with broad and daring slapstick and routinely broke new ground. A surprisingly quiet man, Martin's work spoke volumes as he left an indelible mark on several generations, influencing the style of many illustrators while shaping the sense of humor of countless misguided youths. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004. Says Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side: "Don Martin was the one who really stood out." Now, it is with great pride that Running Press, in collaboration with MAD, launches the MAD's Greatest Artists: The Completely MAD Don Martin (MAD's Greatest Artists Series) For the first time ever, here is the complete collection of every piece of art Don Martin published in MAD throughout his extraordinary thirty-year tenure (1957-1987). With all of Martin's strips, covers, posters, and stickers--presented in chronological order--it is nothing less than a masterpiece of comic genius. Complementing Martin's opus of published works are letters, sketches, and rare photos providing an in-depth look at the artist at work. Plus, scattered throughout are notes and original illustrations--commissioned for this volume--paying tribute to the artist and penned by MAD's most-notable personalities, including Al Jaffee, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis, Sergio Aragones, and more. There are also notes by the likes of Jim Davis (Garfield) and a foreword by Gary Larson. A collector's item and object d'art in its own right, this deluxe two-volume slipcased edition will be the season's must-have gift book for the millions whose childhoods--and subsequent adulthoods--would not have been the same without MAD MAGAZINE and Don Martin.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 great Artist, bad edition November 7, 2007
33 out of 46 found this review helpful
This could have been easily the greatest comic publication of the century. Don Martin is one of the funniest and most inspiring comic book artist in the comic book history. Even silly jokes make you laugh because he can draw the characters in such a funny way like no other Artist. But the printing quality is sometimes not the best. However some Material is older than 30 Years.
 Mad's greatest artist finally gets his showcase October 19, 2007
30 out of 30 found this review helpful
Of all the artists to ever contribute to Mad Magazine, Don Martin's work is probably the most recognizable. The hinged feet, long fingers, crooked noses, and expressive sound effects (like THOINK! or FLUGGLE!) made him the first comics I would really slow down to read when getting the latest issue of Mad as a boy. Now every single bit of his work for the magazine has been collected here in a beautiful box set.
The pages are roughly the size of the old magazine, so you still get the same effect of first reading it. The colors are amazing on the acid-free paper. His first comics are a little rough artistically and don't really look much like his later work, but it's interesting to see it evolve from the more detailed "sketch comedy" to the four-panel funnies he later made popular.
The only shortcoming these books have is that they neglect Don's paperbacks that he wrote under the Mad title (ex: "The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz", "Don Martin Forges Ahead", "Don Martin Digs Deeper", etc). Characters such as Captain Klutz and Chester Bestertester don't show up here, and to me those books were some of his funniest material. Maybe the Mad guys will release those as a similar set later on so we don't lose any of Martin's madness.
These books are heavy and are obviously meant to last. If you're familiar with the "Absolute" sets DC Comics puts out ("Absolute Kingdom Come") then you'll be familiar with how this is laid out. It's pricey, but holding 30 years worth of comics by one of the funniest cartoonists around makes it worth the expense.
An ambitious effort, and they almost pull it off October 25, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I pre-ordered this set and it finally came today. I was going nuts waiting for this collection. Like another reviewer mentioned, the first thing I noticed was that these are some heavy books. Pages are printed on pristine archival paper which has some heft and reproduces the black & white comics fairly well. Besides all of his art, most of the "usual gang of idiots" - the core of MAD artists & writers during it's heyday - provide commentary throughout. I especially enjoyed Dick DeBartolo's pieces, as he seems to have been the closest of Don's friends from the magazine. Sergio Aragones also has a nice two-page tribute.
Another nice touch is all of the comics (which are in chronological order) have a legend at the bottom with the issue and publication date.
As great as this set is, I do have a few gripes - some of the color pages (particularly a few of the back cover gags and the different stickers from Super Specials) were poorly reproduced with colors being "off", muted, or slightly blurry. It's possible that only some copies (including mine) were part of a bad printing run, I don't know. I drop my rating by a star for this and also because some of the B&W art is not as crisp as it was in the magazine, but even this problem is not enough to spoil the overall presentation and uniqueness of having all of Martin's MAD work in one place. It's a bargain at this price.
MAD's Maddest Artist - All In One Place! October 15, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I have been a reader of MAD since 1983. I remember discovering it at the age of 10, and well, I still read it currently. However it is not the same since the one and only Don Martin left its pages and more recently left us all behind. Now I can relive my childhood and experience the magic that is a Don Martin cartoon.
From his early work which I have mostly never seen before to his classics from the 70s and 80s, it's all here. Over 1000+ pages of cartoon after cartoon in these two massive, and did I mention HEAVY, books. This 2 volume set is must have for MAD fans, and looks great next to my similar Complete Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes collections. It's a shame his work from Cracked Magazine in the '90s is not featured to be a 100% collection of his past, but this is all his MAD articles at least so that is good enough for me.
If you've never experienced Don Martin or want to flashback to the "good ol' days" of MAD when it was still in black and white with no ads, you must own this collection. And get it from Amazon before the price goes up. It is worth the $150 cover price, but for under $100 right now, it's a real steal!
 Long Overdue Trophy to the Cartoon Master November 6, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you love Don Martin, Mad Magazine, or just the comic art, this book deserves your attention. A classy trophy like package of all of Martin's work for Mad Magazine, in one larger than life, heavy stock page after another. It won't take long to get through, which makes the price a bit steep for an average laugh seeker, but for those of us that can laugh time and time again looking at our favorite Don Martin 'toon we've seen a thousand times, this is a feel good investment.
Alternately a cheaper and more technology savy solution to see Don's work is the Absolutely MAD DVD, which has 600+ issues of Mad Magazine - Don Martin and all - veiwable on your computer through Acrobat.Absolutely MAD Magazine - 50+ Years
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