Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Antonio Prohias

Antonio Prohias — A MAD Look at Spies

Original Art and The Artists

Mad # 170, October 1974

One punch line panel of the iconic Spy vs. Spy gag strip often sported more violence than an entire episode of Looney Tunes. (That’s saying something.)

And we loved it.

Prohias, a Cuban refugee, was a genius.  He didn’t speak very much English. And he didn’t have to. Humor is a universal language. 

And me personally? I love wordless gags.  After all, cartooning is a visual medium.

Spy vs. Spy made its debut in a classic issue of Mad — the infamous election flip cover. Newsstand proprietors could face out whoever actually won the election. (Spoiler alert: It was JFK.) Also above are the first three Spy gags, all appearing in the same issue.
I was fortunate to visit Mad’s offices in 1976 and received the classic Cheap, Crummy Souvenir. More importantly, I met many of the “Usual Gang of Idiots” including the fearless leader himself, Bill Gaines.