Mad Magazine: Bands Reunited - Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen's Left Arm

I was going through some Mad comps to include in book and art sale packages and stumbled across this one-page strip in MAD #13 (June 2020). This is one of the more recent "zombie" issues, the current iteration of the magazine that's made up mostly of reprints of older material. This issue's theme collects music-related material, the oldest piece dating back to 1955.

This particular strip originally ran in MAD 443, published in July, 2004. It's the only comic I wrote and illustrated for MAD, although I did two comics for the short-lived sister-magazine, MAD KIDS. Almost all of the original ideas I pitched to MAD were rejected, which is funny, because I was initially contacted to write for the magazine. I never jibed with MAD as a writer, my stuff was too mean, niche, wrong or, I guess, unfunny. I couldn't really get into the headset to reproduce the MAD style very well for articles, that outdated sort of elbow-in-the-ribs wink that probably hasn't changed in decades. I could never identify the writer on a particular piece unless it was a writer's particular forte, music parodies or whatever. The editorial style seemed to steamroll personal style so that MAD felt like it could have been written by one person in one voice. I found that stifling.

The only place where individuality really shone was in the comics. I didn't do much better pitching comics than I did in pitching articles. One reason for that may be that I never sent MAD my absolute best material when it came to gag strips or panels. I didn't want to give up anything I really liked, MAD owned the work and if I really liked an idea I kept it for myself to use.

This idea was one I liked a lot, but I felt it was something that would work better in MAD than DORK. Also, MAD would pay more for a single page of comics than I'd be earning for at least half an issue of DORK at that time (ouch, right?). I was actually surprised MAD accepted the comic (happily surprised). The art department sent me a lettered layout based on my script and I drew the panels separately for Sarah to assemble digitally. The hardest panel to draw was the one with the copy of Rolling Stone. Otherwise it was a fun page to work on. Thinking about it now, it sort of feels like it could have been a Devil Puppet story.

The page originally ran in black and white, if I remember correctly. It was colored for the 2020 reprint. The results are kind of mixed, sometimes a comic that wasn't drawn for black and white doesn't really lend itself to color. I'm still put off by seeing static lettering on a comic I drew, it just looks so off. But the jokes are there.

Sometimes I wonder if the strip was too mean or rude. I mean, the guy lost his arm. I don't know. I think about these things a lot more nowadays. MAD would turn down some of my ideas for being too mean. I'm still surprised this ran. I was used to being nastier in my own small press comics, you get used to no one really seeing your work and it makes you worry less, even subconsciously, about being a jerk. Especially if it's an absurd thing like a Milk & Cheese comic. Sometimes you think a joke's funny and you don't think it through that it might not be worth telling. It makes writing jokes harder, but I think we should reevaluate these things as we learn more about other people and ourselves. Maybe that's another reason I find it hard to work up any new Milk & Cheese material. Something to think about.

I wonder if the "Dude, this is totally creepy" line was meant to be self-reflexive about the comic.

Anyway, I did a comic about Def Leppard's Drummer Rick Allen's Left Arm. And I got paid for it. And it was on newsstands. I wonder what Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen would think about that. I'd think he might be more miffed about my calling the band crappy. I don't know. I still think it's a well-constructed, funny comic, all things considered. There's a lot of material squeezed out of the bit, which is something I always try to do. It's funny to have been able to do it one time all by myself, in the pages of the magazine that influenced my comics as a kid.

If my right arm ever comes off in a tragic mishap I promise to write a comic about it. I just might not be able to draw it.