ECCCH-MEN

X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
1992-1997 FOX


ECCCH-MEN
MAD #327, May 1994
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Sam Viviano

MAD rarely did parodies of Saturday Morning cartoons, but I guess this was one of the cases where they made an exception. X-Men has existed in many forms since, but before the movies, this cartoon based on the comic was the only other one. The main pupils of Charles Xavier's School for the Gifted were Storm, Jubilee, Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, and Beast, led by Charles Xavier a/k/a Professor X. The students were selected as “gifted children” but are mutants with special powers. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is led by Magneto, Professor X's longtime frenemy. Other enemies are the Sentinels and Morph.

Beast is drawn here as one of Maurice Sendak's Wild Things. Sam Viviano and Dick DeBartolo are in the lower right corner of this splash page, as are MAD staffers Charlie Kadau, Nick Meglin, John Ficarra, and Len Brenner.

Jean Grey/Phoenix was another of the X-Men.

And this was a parody of the earlier comic from the sixties.

THE ECHHS-MEN
Not Brand Ecch #8, June 1968
w: Gary Friedrich
a: Tom Sutton

Jean Grey was originally Marvel Girl, Beast didn't have hair, and other members were The Angel and Iceman. They practiced their powers in the danger room at the academy.

Forbush-Man is a parody of Peter Parker, always desperate to join some superhero group.

Toad was one of the original members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Quicksiver was a former mutant on the good side who joined the Avengers.

Magneto wore a helmet to shield his magnetic powers. Scarlet Witch was Quicksilver's sister who also became an Avenger.

MMMS was the Merry Marvel Marching Society, a fan club for readers.

EAST SIDE STORY

WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
dir: Robert Wise

The Broadway musical that became a movie (and remade a couple years ago) was parodied a few times. The premise, based on Romeo and Juliet, about members of two rival gangs falling in love, lent itself to the issues of other then-current rivalries.

EAST SIDE STORY
MAD #78, April 1963
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Mort Drucker

When Mort Drucker died a few years ago, this was cited as one of the pieces he was the most proud of. Instead of the Sharks and the Jets in a pre-gentrified Upper West Side, the backdrop is the newly-founded United Nations and the leaders of the Western World versus leaders of Eastern bloc countries. Here we have Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia, Wladyslaw Gomolka of Poland, and Fidel Castro of Cuba among other communist nations representing a gang led by Nikita Kruschev. A lot of the world leaders aren't likenesses of anyone in partocular.

The Western nations are a gang led by JFK that included Charles DeGaulle of France and Harold MacMillan of the United Kingdom,

Barry Goldwater is in the Western gang as well.

WEST COAST STORY
MAD #142, April 1971
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Jack Davis

With campus protests in the news just this week, this article is another example of history repeating itself.

CURLYLOCKS AND THE THREE HOODS
Sick #12, March 1962

BEST SIDE STORY
Not Brand Ecch #6, February 1968
w: Gary Friedrich
a: Tom Sutton

This takes on the rivalry between Marvel and DC (or “Distinguished Competition” as Marvel called them). Dr. Strange and Wonder Woman fall in love.

Leonard Bernstein composed the music for West Side Story.