@5
The insides were pretty disturbing too.I first read these when they came out and they were different from anything else on the newsstands. I liked his 4th World books too. Kirby was a raw idea factory, and he chunking this kind of stuff out by the pound. Often pretty crudely finished, but always interesting.

Teresa 70:

You should feel free to not pay attention to anything I write. I felt that the owners and producers of Boing Boing might be interested in what a long time reader of the site might think of their editorial and advertising policies and how it relates to reader trust. To be honest I seldom look into the comments of a Boing Boing story and haven't read your response to every one of the, now 71, comments. You responded, specifically to me, with the voice of a moderator, so I responded back to you as their spokesperson.

Teresa 49:

My story had nothing to do with business models and everything to do with trust between a publication and its readers. If the sudden appearance of non-ironic adspeak attached to a sponsership by _Microsoft_ in the body of a _Boing Boing_ story doesn't seem even a bit jarring to you, then I'm not surprised that the point of my comment escaped you.

For the record, Bill Gaines was _publsiher_ of Mad, and not the editor. There were several editors under Mr. Gaines over the years, but it was after his death that the magazine was taken over by the suits and it became just another funny magazine.

When I was young one of my favorite publications was Bill Gaines' Mad Magazine. One of the great things about Mad was that while it had ads, they weren't real. They were part of the satire. To a kid growing up in the pop culture 60s Mad was a safe haven and even an antidote from Madison Avenue.

Sometime in my late teens I stopped reading Mad every month, and soon seldom at all. One of the sad parts about growing up I guess. I would still sneak a peak at a current issue every now and then and see that many of the old "gang of idiots" were still hacking away. But months or years could go by between peeks.

Then one day, I was in the bookstore with my brother. He approached me with a grim look on his face and handed me a copy of the latest Mad Magazine, pointing to an announcement on the cover. It said something about new policies for Mad. I turned to the publisher's statement inside and my heart sank as Bill Gaines talked about paper costs and other production issues. He said that Mad would now start accepting advertising, but it would only be carefully selected and of the highest ethical caliber. And it would be limited to a small section of the magazine, starting on page such and such.

I was literally stunned. A part of my childhood died. Santa Claus was dead. With a heavy heart I turned to the section and... It was full of fake ads of the worst possible type! Breast enlargers, work at home schemes, you name it. It was great. The Master had proved to me that he still had it. I could go back to my boring adulthood with the knowledge that Gaines-Sensei was still looking out for and benevolently corrupting this country's youth.

Now of course Bill Gaines is dead. Mad has full color stories, to support the glossy full color ads that infest the magazine. I don't even notice it on the newsstands any more than, say, GQ. I'm sure it is still a financial success, and I wouldn't even be surprised to find that it still had good, solid satirical content. But I can't look at it and not remember what it used to be.

I don't think Bill Gaines would be pleased.

First you have to determine whether or not Balrogs have wings...

(ducks and runs away)

Apparently by the Next Generation's time, they had lost much of the Kirk era's Big Hair technology.

Reminds me of Phil Austin's satirical short story "The Precipice Of Angels." The story is a diary of an "Urban Lateralist" who tries to scale Hollywood Blvd. Austin is a member of the audio comedy group Firesign Theater and the story is very much in their style.

A hilarious and strangely moving story. It is full of great quotes and I'd post a excerpt, but to my knowledge it is only available as part of an audio book called _Tales of the Old Detective and other big fat lies_.

My favorite Yotsuba story is the one where she takes her water pistol next door and massacres the neighbors Yakuza style. The cutest story of revenge and mass murder I can think of. And she learns a valuable lesson as well.

"Some YouTube Planet of the Apes surfing led me to this, a student film from the late '70s that was meant as a sequel to the Apes films which ties up loose ends. It's damn impressive. It looks like actual Planet of the Apes movie footage.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack has been lost.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ik_lX81Qt0"

Here is a synopsis of the dialog as nearly as I can reconstruct it:

Zira approaches Cornelius on campus and asks him where the restrooms are located.

Cornelius tells Zira that she shouldn't worry about such things and the she should be concerned with Ape/Human relations.

Zira stresses that it is important that she find the restroom. Now.

They argue.

Cornelius takes Zira over to the fountain, to take her mind off of her trivial concerns, and proceeds to tell her about the upcoming Ape/Human summit. At length.

Zira is not convinced.

Cornelius perseveres.

Zira stands up and informs Cornelius that she has peed her Ape pants. She cries.

Cornelius gives her a hug. All is better now.

Ann Coulter poster on the same page...

"Those eyes, WEEEEIRD!!!"

The thing that I liked most about Devo from that period was their "audio aninamatronics" inspired moves. Very disturbing. The Uncanny Valley in reverse...

Something like this could destroy modern civilization.