I don’t know about y’all, but Mad Magazine had a heavy influence on my politics growing up… Al Jaffee’s unique perspective was a big part of that.
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The Washington Post
Al Jaffee, the ingenious Mad magazine illustrator who was as adept at creating wacky cartoon gags as he was at producing caustic social commentary, and whose drawings, he cheerfully suggested, helped corrupt the minds of generations of young Americans, died April 10 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 102.
The cause was multiple organ failure, said his granddaughter Fani Thomson.
Mr. Jaffee was Mad’s longest-serving contributor and one of the defining voices of the magazine as it grew to become a countercultural must-read from the 1950s, through the Vietnam War era and beyond. He continued to draw for Mad into his 90s and was responsible for some of its signature features, including the fold-in, “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” and “Al Jaffee’s Mad Inventions.”
His inventions, including the smokeless ashtray, multi-roll toilet-paper dispenser and a razor with an imposing number of blades, rollers and motors — were just this side of implausible when he conjured them in an effort to lampoon Madison Avenue hucksterism. Mr. Jaffee said he was delighted when “something that I thought was a joke” — multi-blade razors, at least — “turned into reality.”
He retired just 3 years ago...
Associated Press
Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” has died. He was 102.
Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99.
Mad magazine, with its wry, sometimes pointed send-ups of politics and culture, was essential reading for teens and preteens during the baby-boom era and inspiration for countless future comedians. Few of the magazine’s self-billed “Usual Gang of Idiots” contributed as much — and as dependably — as the impish, bearded cartoonist. For decades, virtually every issue featured new material by Jaffee. His collected “Fold-Ins,” taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011.