Spy vs. Spy

Last updated

Spy vs. Spy
Spy vs. Spy Logotipe.png
Author(s)
Current status/scheduleEnded (as of 2021)
Launch date Mad magazine #60 (Jan. 1961)
Publisher(s) DC Entertainment
Genre(s) Political satire
Humor

Spy vs. Spy is a wordless comic strip published in Mad magazine. It features two agents involved in stereotypical and comical espionage activities. One is dressed in white, and the other in black, but they are otherwise identical, and are particularly known for their long, beaklike heads and their white pupils and black sclera. The pair are always at war with each other, using a variety of booby traps to inflict harm on the other. The spies usually alternate between victory and defeat (sometimes both win and both lose) with each new strip. A parody of the political ideologies of the Cold War, the strip was created by Cuban expatriate cartoonist Antonio Prohías, and debuted in Mad #60, dated January 1961. [1] Spy vs. Spy is currently written and drawn by Peter Kuper.

Contents

The Spy vs. Spy characters have been featured in such media as video games and an animated television series, and in such merchandise as action figures and trading cards.

Publication history

Antonio Prohías was a prolific cartoonist in Cuba known for political satire. He fled to the United States on May 1, 1960, three days before Fidel Castro's government nationalized the last of the Cuban free press. [2] Prohías sought work in his profession and traveled to the offices of Mad magazine in New York City on July 12, 1960, with the strips, which he said he had created specifically for the magazine. [3] After an initial rejection but ultimately a successful showing of his work and a prototype cartoon for Spy vs. Spy, Prohías was hired. [4]

Prohías cryptically signed each strip on its first panel with a sequence of Morse code characters that spell "BY PROHIAS". In a 1983 interview with the Miami Herald, Prohías reflected on the success of Spy vs. Spy, stating, "The sweetest revenge has been to turn Fidel's accusation of me as a spy into a moneymaking venture." [4] Prohías was censored by Mad magazine publisher William Gaines on at least one occasion: the strip that eventually appeared in Mad magazine #84 (Jan. 1964) was altered to remove scenes where the spies drink and smoke (Gaines had a strong anti-smoking stance). [4] Prohías evolved his drawing style over the years, making the spies' heads proportionately larger by 1964. In 1965, he began to experiment with not drawing frames on the spies' shades, and this became a consistent trait from late 1966 on, so that the characters' eyes appeared to have no sclera—just very large pupils, all black except for reflective glints. But when a spy was caught in an explosion, sometimes his fully drawn shades would fly along with other items such as hats, boots, and dentures. In the 1980s, overhanging lips were common.

Prohías completed a total of 241 Spy vs. Spy strips for Mad magazine, the last one appearing in #269 (March 1987). [4] After that he drew gag strips for the titles (such as one involving radioactive waste in #287) and wrote several stories for Clarke or Manak to draw, with his last such contribution in #337 (July 1995). [5]

The strips continued, with writer Duck Edwing and artist Bob Clarke creating the majority. Their strips are identifiable by Clarke's drawing style, but signed "'C/e", or "'C/p" in the Prohías-written cases.

Some were largely uncredited, simply being signed "M&S" (MAD 335) or "M&e" (MAD 352).

Peter Kuper took over as the full-time writer and artist for the strip with Mad magazine #356 (April 1997). In 2001, Kuper began drawing it in full color when the magazine made its switch from black and white art. With Mad reverting to a reprint format, Kuper's last Spy strip appeared in issue #18 (the magazine had moved to Burbank in 2018, adopting new numbering starting with #1). The final new Spy cartoon was three pages long, and showed the spies progressing through millennia: evolving from the sea, as Greek pottery, as dueling knights, and ultimately as the only two survivors of a nuclear holocaust that they had caused. They agree to stop fighting, and walk off together arm-in-arm into the shattered ruins of civilization.

Characters

Cosplay, Comikaze Expo 2011 Comikaze Expo 2011 - Spy vs Spy (6325381362).jpg
Cosplay, Comikaze Expo 2011

Black Spy and White Spy (or "Man in Black" and "Man in White") – Wearing wide-brimmed hats and dressed in overcoats, both Spies have long pointed faces. They are identical, except for one being entirely in white and one entirely in black. The Spies were modeled after El Hombre Siniestro ("The Sinister Man"), a character Prohías created in the Cuban magazine Bohemia in 1956. [6] Like the Spies, he wore a wide-brimmed hat and overcoat and had a long, pointed nose. Prohías described the character as someone who "thought nothing of chopping the tails off of dogs, or even the legs off of little girls" and stated he was "born out of the national psychosis of the Cuban people." [4] 'El Hombre Siniestro bore a strong resemblance to the Spies—although, instead of fighting against a set rival, he simply does horrible things to anyone he can find.

The cover copy of The All New Mad Secret File on Spy vs. Spy provides early insight to the characters and Prohías' views on the Castro regime and the CIA:

You are about to meet Black Spy and White Spy – the two MADdest spies in the whole world. Their antics are almost as funny as the CIA's. ... When it comes to intrigue, these guys make it way outtrigue. They are the only two spies we know who haven't the sense to come in out of the cold. But they have a ball – mainly trying to outwit each other. [4]

A gag panel in Mad magazine #122 (Oct. 1968) established Black Spy as a member of the "East." He gets trapped by a White Spy, who is guarding the border to the "West." There is otherwise no indication in the series that Black Spy is pro-communist or White Spy is pro-capitalist.

Grey Spy (or "Woman in Grey") – She debuted in Mad magazine #73 (Sept. 1962) (the strip was temporarily renamed Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy). Grey Spy's appearances were sporadic, but she always triumphed by using the infatuations of Black Spy and White Spy to her advantage. Prohías explained, "The lady Spy represented neutrality. She would decide on White Spy or Black Spy, and she also added some balance and variety to the basic 'Spy vs. Spy' formula." [4] Grey Spy's last appearance under Prohías was Mad magazine #99 (Dec. 1965); she did not appear again until 1988, after Bob Clarke and Duck Edwing took over the strip.

Leaders – They are the barrel-chested, medal-decorated bosses of Black Spy and White Spy, who give them tasks and punish them for their failures. The Leaders were phased out when Peter Kuper took over writing and illustrating the strip.

Spin-offs

Other media

White Spy as seen in a 2004 Mountain Dew television commercial. Mountain Dew Spies.jpg
White Spy as seen in a 2004 Mountain Dew television commercial.

Bibliography

Spin-offs

Related Research Articles

<i>Mad</i> (magazine) American humor magazine

Mad is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, 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 1973–1974 circulation peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergio Aragonés</span> Spanish Mexican cartoonist (born 1937)

Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a Spanish/Mexican cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad magazine and creating the comic book Groo the Wanderer.

<i>Dick Tracy</i> American comic strip starting 1931

Dick Tracy is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror, and was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977, and various artists and writers have continued it.

Private Snafu Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Private Snafu is the title character of a series of black-and-white American instructional adult animated shorts, ironic and humorous in tone, that were produced between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. The films were designed to instruct service personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects, and to improve troop morale. Primarily, they demonstrate the negative consequences of doing things wrong. The main character's name is a play on the military slang acronym SNAFU, "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up".

<i>Danger Mouse</i> (1981 TV series) British animated television series

Danger Mouse is a British animated television series produced by Cosgrove Hall Productions for Thames Television. It features the eponymous Danger Mouse who worked as a secret agent and is a parody of British spy fiction, particularly the Danger Man series and James Bond. It originally ran from 28 September 1981 to 19 March 1992 on the ITV network.

<i>Crazy Magazine</i> Satirical humor publication, 1973–1983

Crazy Magazine is an illustrated satire and humor magazine that was published by Marvel Comics from 1973 to 1983 for a total of 94 regular issues. It was preceded by two standard-format comic books titled Crazy. The magazine's format followed in the tradition of Mad, Sick, Cracked and National Lampoon.

<i>Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp</i> Television series

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is an American action/adventure comedy series that originally aired Saturday mornings on ABC from September 12, 1970, to January 2, 1971, and rebroadcast the following season. The live-action film series featured a cast of chimpanzees given apparent speaking roles by overdubbing with human voices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Martin (cartoonist)</span> American cartoonist

Don Martin was an American cartoonist whose best-known work was published in Mad from 1956 to 1988. His popularity and prominence were such that the magazine promoted Martin as "Mad's Maddest Artist."

Antonio Prohías was a Cuban-American cartoonist. He was the creator of the satirical comic strip Spy vs. Spy, which he illustrated for Mad magazine from 1961 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Kuper</span> American alternative comics artist and illustrator

Peter Kuper is an American alternative comics artist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duck Edwing</span> American cartoonist

Don "Duck" Edwing was an American gag cartoonist whose work has appeared for years in Mad. His signature "Duck Edwing" was usually accompanied by a small picture of a duck, and duck calls were heard on his answering machine. Mad editor John Ficarra said, "He's exactly how people picture a Mad magazine writer." In 2007, Edwing told an interviewer, "I always believed that when you choose your field, you should specialize. You never deviate. I chose 'sick puppy'."

<i>The King Kong Show</i> Japanese TV program

King Kong, commonly referred to as The King Kong Show, is an American-Japanese animated series produced by Videocraft International and Toei Animation. ABC ran the series in the United States on Saturday mornings between September 10, 1966, and August 31, 1969. It is the first anime-based series produced in Japan for an American company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Klutz</span>

Captain Klutz is a comic strip character created in 1967 by Don Martin. He is a parody of superhero characters. The character originally saw print in a series of original paperback books done for the Mad magazine paperback line, not the magazine itself.

Woodrow Phoenix is a British comics artist, writer, editorial illustrator, graphic designer, font designer and author of children's books.

Devlin is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast for 16 episodes on ABC from September 7 to December 21, 1974, with reruns airing until September 1976. The series, inspired by the popularity of motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, featured a stunt motorcyclist with a traveling circus named Ernie Devlin and his siblings Tod and Sandy. It was one of Hanna-Barbera's few dramatic series.

Mad is known for many regular and semi-regular recurring features in its pages.

The following is a list of reference to Archie Comics in popular culture.

<i>Mad</i> (TV series) American animated sketch comedy television series

Mad is an American animated sketch comedy television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The series was based on Mad magazine, where each episode is a collection of short animated parodies of television shows, films, video games, celebrities, and other media, using various types of animation instead of the usual animation style that Warner Bros. Animation is known for. The series premiered on the evening of September 6, 2010 on Cartoon Network at 8:30 P.M. right after the series premiere of Regular Show. The series ended its three-year run on December 2, 2013.

<i>Jonny Quest</i> (TV series) American animated television series

Jonny Quest is an American animated science fiction adventure television series about a boy who accompanies his scientist father on extraordinary adventures. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems, and was created and designed by comic book artist Doug Wildey.

"The Lighter Side Of..." is an American satirical comic strip series written and drawn by Dave Berg and published in Mad Magazine from 1961 to 2002.

References

  1. ↑ Carabas, Teodora (2007). "'Tales Calculated to Drive You MAD': The Debunking of Spies, Superheroes, and Cold War Rhetoric in Mad Magazine's 'SPY vs SPY'". The Journal of Popular Culture. 40 (1): 4–24. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00351.x.
  2. ↑ "Spy vs. Spy Headquarters".
  3. ↑ Hall, Gyasi (September 12, 2023). "Rethinking Spy vs. Spy: A Hand From One Page, A Bomb From Another". Longreads. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook", Prohías, A. (Watson-Guptill, 2001).
  5. ↑ Mad Magazine Contributors-Antonio Prohias
  6. ↑ Francisco Pascasio Blanco Ávila (October 31, 2013). "MI 'SOCIO' PROHÍAS". ay-vecino. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  7. ↑ Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 364. ISBN   9780472117567.
  8. ↑ "Spy vs. Spy". World of Spectrum.
  9. ↑ "In the Studio". Next Generation . No. 30. Imagine Media. June 1997. p. 19.
  10. ↑ "GT Interactive Buys Singletrac, Makes Agreements with BMG and Warner Bros. Interactive". GamePro . No. 108. IDG. September 1997. p. 20.
  11. ↑ "Spy vs. Spy," BoardGameGeek.com. Accessed July 1, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Spy vs. Spy Mountain Dew Commercials," YBCW.com. Accessed July 1, 2015. Archived April 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Burwick, Kevin (April 30, 2020). "Spy Vs. Spy Movie Is Back on with Red Notice Director Rawson Marshall Thurber". MovieWeb. Retrieved November 20, 2022.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Spy vs. Spy at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.