HOOK 'EM

HOOK (1991)
dir: Steven Spielberg

HOOK'EM
MAD #312, July 1992
w: Stan Hart
a: Sam Viviano

Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is a corporate lawyer so tied up with his job he's neglected his children and lost his sense of fun. He's forgotten that he used to be Peter Pan. In the splash panel are Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) and his sidekick Smee (Bob Hoskins). Smee appears to be pushing a costumed George Lucas onto the ship, and Lucas is wearing a jaket with a pun on the name Glenn Close. Members of his crew were played by Phil Collins, Jimmy Buffett, and David Crosby. The kid with the mohawk is Rufio (Dante Basco), the new leader of the Lost Boys.

The Banning family is visiting his wife Moira (Caroline Goodall)'s Grandmother Wendy (Maggie Smith) in London and after coming back from a birthday dinner, the house has been totaled and the children have been kidnapped.

Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) appears and brings him to Neverland where he meets the lost boys. They're drawn here as Dondi, Short Round, Sluggo, Dennis the Menace, Calvin, and Urkel. Ge goes to the ship where his kids are and Hook challenges him, but agrees with Tinkerbell's terms to give Peter three days to get him back into shape.

While training, Peter falls in the water but is saved by mermaids (here they're Daryl Hannah in Splash, Cher in Mermaids, and Ariel from The Little Mermaid), then ends up with the lost boys (drawn as The Little Rascals and Macaulay Culkin). They eat imaginary food, and Peter realizes if he imagines well enough, the food becomes real. Peter is reminded that he used to be Peter Pan in the past and decided to become an adult because he fell in lobe and wanted to get married. Tinkerbell tells him he can fry if he thinks happy thoughts.

Rufio, who originally was skeptical of Peter but eventually saw him as the true leader, is killed when all the Lost Boys fight Hook and his army. Hook is eventually defeated when the crocodile he originally had as a trophy comes back to life and eats him.

SHNOOK
Cracked #272, July 1992
w: Lou Silverstone
a: John Severin

Cracked was often more faithful in its parodies, as they were aiming for a slightly younger audience than MAD and used the movies to sell copies more.

This starts out with Robin Williams being psychoanalyzed by Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a famous radio and TV sex therapist in the 80s and 90s. She had a thick German accent. Williams' earlier roles were Popeye and Mork. I figure at this point John Severin was able to draw Robin Williams from memory since every other page of Cracked in the 70s and 80s was Mork. What MAD left out of its parody is that at the beginning Peter forgot his son's ball game.

There's also the flight to London and the relationship between Peter and his son Jack (Charlie Korsmo) falling apart, the basis for his getting his priorities straight.

When Peter first finds his children are kidnapped, he offers to pay a sum. In the middle right panel is boxing promoter Don King. Robin Williams was quite hirsute. The second panel is a refence to Williams' movie Good Morning, Vietnam..

Another premise not in MAD is Hook getting Peter's kids to prefer him, and one way he does it is to set up a ball game and make Jack the winner. Morganna the Kissing Bandit was another celebrity of the 80s and 90s known for running onto baseball fields unannounced to kiss the winners.

UPDATE:
Cover to German edition of MAD.

And the British one (They didn't do Prince of Tides over here).