Saturday, May 13, 2006
Los Hombres Sinestros
Comics and politics, part III: I let an important commemoration slip by when I forgot to celebrate May 1st, the 46th anniversary of Antonio Prohias' departure from his native Cuba (where Castro was calling for his head) to New York City. Prohias drafted his ticket to immortality when he created the Spy vs. Spy strip for MAD Magazine, a strip that could either be seen as a mixture of biography plus ingenuity plus Cold War politics, or simply as the recurring exploits of two beaked espionage agents gleefully obliterating each other in very inventive ways. As a kid, the strip was easily my favorite part of the magazine, and even now I'm struck by the solidity and impact of the art; the spies, neither one representing anything or having any characteristics aside from a manic desire to the kill the other, were drawn as iconic and recognizable as the 'pedestrian' figure on traffic signs. That may have been the source of the strip's charm: It's graphic language was universal, and it didn't have a message aside from the childish glee we all feel when we blow something or someone up.
The next anniversary is July 12th, marking 46 years since Prohias walked into MAD's offices with his earliest Spy vs. Spy drawings and his daughter Marta to act as a translator. Be sure to wear your white (or black) hat to mark the day.
Comics and politics, part III: I let an important commemoration slip by when I forgot to celebrate May 1st, the 46th anniversary of Antonio Prohias' departure from his native Cuba (where Castro was calling for his head) to New York City. Prohias drafted his ticket to immortality when he created the Spy vs. Spy strip for MAD Magazine, a strip that could either be seen as a mixture of biography plus ingenuity plus Cold War politics, or simply as the recurring exploits of two beaked espionage agents gleefully obliterating each other in very inventive ways. As a kid, the strip was easily my favorite part of the magazine, and even now I'm struck by the solidity and impact of the art; the spies, neither one representing anything or having any characteristics aside from a manic desire to the kill the other, were drawn as iconic and recognizable as the 'pedestrian' figure on traffic signs. That may have been the source of the strip's charm: It's graphic language was universal, and it didn't have a message aside from the childish glee we all feel when we blow something or someone up.
The next anniversary is July 12th, marking 46 years since Prohias walked into MAD's offices with his earliest Spy vs. Spy drawings and his daughter Marta to act as a translator. Be sure to wear your white (or black) hat to mark the day.
# posted by toner_low @ 9:42 AM 
