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Graphic Novel: Mad's 'idiots' roast sci-fi movies, shows of last 50 years

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Mad Magazine Spoofs Star Wars and Other Sci-fi is a collection of parodies that appeared in the venerable humour magazine over the decades — that’s right, “the usual gang of idiots” is trying again to sell you the same thing you bought as a kid.

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For me, this “updated reissue” now on newsstands was worth the $15.99 cover price. It’s a bit of a time capsule — this is what humour was like in the days before websites like the Onion and the Beaverton became our source for laughs.

It’s light on Star Wars (just the 1977 film is mocked in these pages). The real treasures here are the Mad takes on Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, E.T. and other movies and shows.

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It’s interesting to read these spoofs with the benefit of what we know now about how the genre has developed over the last 50 years.

In Star Blecch, for instance, the writers insert a gag about a transporter malfunction: Kirk beams down to an alien planet, only to reappear with his hand sticking out his ear. Devoted Star Trek fans will know that this was recycled as a dramatic moment in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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And in Clod Encounters of the Absurd Kind, Mad’s humourists grasped the message of the Steven Spielberg UFO movie that many moviegoers seemed to have missed: The director depicted the American suburbs as a kind of hell to be escaped; Roy Neary was being dragged down by his wife and kids, and the movie asserted his right to dump his family to experience happiness.

It was also a brilliant touch in Alienators to depict Bill Paxton’s Private Hudson as a giant chicken in space-marine gear.

Throughout the volume, Mad’s writers and artists hit on many of the same obsessions: the IRS, the high cost of long-distance phone calls, used-car salesman, crummy airline service, singles bars, disco. The only thing missing here is a sendup of 1987’s Spaceballs – can you parody a parody?

With an entire generation of Mad creative types passing into history in recent years, this collector’s edition is a potent reminder (and not just for younger readers) of what the fuss was all about.

danbrown@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/DanatLFPress

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