I Reads You Review: SPY VS SPY! MISSIONS OF MADNESS

Creators: John Ficarra (editor); Antonio Prohias (cartoonist)
Publishing Information: Watson-Guptill Publications, paperback, 192 pages, $11.99 (US); $13.99 (CAN)
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-0-8230-5050-5 (ISBN)

Anyone who has read MAD Magazine is familiar with Spy vs. Spy. It is the wordless comic strip featuring two spies, Black and White, who have been constantly fighting and conspiring against each other for decades. Spy vs. Spy’s hooks are that the two spies are always creating ever inventive ways of foiling, hurting, and trying to do away with one another and that they look identical except that one wears white and the other black. One of the most famous features in Mad, Spy vs. Spy has appeared in almost every issue of the magazine.

Antonio Prohias began producing Spy vs. Spy for MAD in 1961, and he drew the strip for 26 years until he retired. [The strip is currently drawn by Peter Kuper.] There were “pocket-sized” paperback collections of Spy vs. Spy episodes going back to 1965; however the early collections are now out of print. In August 2009, Watson-Guptill brought three of those books back into print, two for the first time in more than 40 years.

The third of the three books, Spy vs Spy! Missions of Madness, was originally published as The Fourth MAD Declassified Papers on Spy vs Spy (Warner Books, 1974). The episodes included in Missions of Madness are longer, more like comedy sketches than gag strips. The book’s opening sketch, “The Model Detective” concerns a rather complicated plot by Black Spy to make White Spy believe in vampires, which will lead to White making a rather explosive discovery.

As funny as this and other of the longer sketches in this collection are, Prohias’ skill as a consummate draftsman and inventive graphic designer take center stage. Prohias’ drawing of the model house in the “The Model Detective,” is certainly impressive, but to have the compositional skill to fit it into the panel with larger elements will stir the reader. The panels with the submarine in “Depth’s Charge” flaunt Prohias’ ability to manipulate composition and graphic design and will also further boggle the mind.

The truth of the matter is that Spy vs Spy! Missions of Madness and the other two books (Danger! Intrigue! Stupidity! and Masters of Mayhem) aren’t just MAD collections; they’re also fine art books about Antonio Prohias.

A is the great for Spy vs Spy Missions of Madness