FREE DOWNLOAD: JAWS EDITION OF MAD MAGAZINE (#180 JANUARY 1976)

Since it’s release in 1975, Steven Spielberg’s seminal shark movie JAWS has been spoofed and aped more times than you can shake Pipit the dog’s stick at.

Everything from Danish mobile phone ads featuring a swimmer as the predator attacking a shark to Spielberg’s self-parody of the Chrissie attack in his 1979 World War 2 comedy ‘1941’, the beaches of imitation are definitely not closed. So it was inevitable that Mad Magazine, one of the best known lampooners ever would set its sights on Jaws.

Founded in 1952 by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, Mad (stylized as MAD) is an American humor magazine launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and influential, affecting satirical media, as well as the cultural landscape of the 20th century, with editor Al Feldstein increasing readership to more than two million during its 1973–74 circulation peak.

MAD Magazine #180 published in January 1976, known as the ‘JAWS Edition’ features a comedic riff of Roger Kastel’s classic Jaws poster. The shark is seen coming up from the depths but with slightly larger eyes and, like a dog cooling itself on a hot day, a huge floppy tongue hanging from its mouth.

Taking the place of a swimming Chrissie at the top of the poster is the iconic MAD Magazine mascot, the grinning, gap-toothed, freckled faced Alfred E. Neuman in a rather fetching stripy bathing costume.

Skip to page 4 for ‘JAW’D’, a satirical retelling of the killer shark unleashing chaos on a beach community. Artist Mort Drucker (who coincidentally illustrated the White House set daily comic strip Benchley) and Emmy award winning writer Larry Seigel.

JAW’D closely follows the plot of Jaws (the movie) and features all the main characters, also referencing key shots and moments that gives MAD’s satire a clear tongue-in-jaws tone as well as respectful homage to the most financially successful film ever (at the time) that went on to become a cultural phenomenon.

Download your free PDF copy of MAD Magazine #180 January 1976, Jaws Edition below.

Words by Ross Williams

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