MAD About Star Wars: Thirty Years of Classic Parodies

If you are a Star Wars nut, buy this book. If you are a MAD nut, buy this book! A collection of everything do to with Star Wars that was ever published in MAD magazine. What more is there to say? The notes in the margins are almost the best bit, with lots of Star Wars trivia and such that I never knew about, with some great links to the Web. The only very, very slight grumble I have is that the comics and cartoons are printed a bit smaller than the originals, which make it more difficult to read for oldies like me! This is a must have book though, whatever kind of nut you are.

The cover says it all... this book contains thirty years of "Star Wars"-related parodies from the pages of MAD, and if you're a fan of either the movies or the magazine, you're in for a treat.

One of the best things about this book is that the writers aren't afraid to really go after George Lucas and the stars of the films; they repeatedly take sharp jabs at Lucas's greed, the stiff acting, the merchandising run amok, etc. In contrast, many recent, high-profile "Star Wars" parodies in other media (i.e., "Family Guy," "Robot Chicken") have tended to have fun with the characters and specific scenes while being careful not to insult Lucas personally, probably out of fear of angering him. Ironically, Lucas doesn't seem to mind MAD's material at all; in fact, he's actually sent fan letters to MAD (which are included in this book), and he even wrote the book's introduction!

However, as the editor points out in several of the entertaining trivia pieces that accompany the articles, there was a good deal of repetition in MAD's "Star Wars" pieces over the years, and as a result, "MAD About Star Wars" can wear kind of thin if you try to read too much in one sitting. It's best to enjoy it a bit at a time.

It's great to have so much "Star Wars" humor together in one place, including parodies of all six movies, "Star Wars"-themed Fold-ins, and even a spoof of the "Star Wars" postage stamps. So go ahead and check it out, and may the farce be with you!

Collectors beware that there is a bit of censorship in these reprints. Terms and phrases which are considered now politically incorrect (ironic, given that this is MAD) have been substituted. Check out the original STAR WARS parody where R2D2 refers to C3PO as being "gay" as opposed to using the original insult. I can understand avoiding using phrases which are now considered hateful, but tampering with the original might irk more than few readers.

Contains every issue you'd expect, and they're just as fun as they were back in the day. One star knocked off for shrinkage; rather than increasing the size of the book, the images were reduced to fit, and it makes the text difficult to read... and slightly less awesome, because you miss lots of detail that would otherwise be easy to spot.

This a great collection of recycled trash from the original issues. Since I have long lost what little mind I had, I feel that I am reading this for the first time.
I like the annotations (fancy word for the notes along the sides).

This book delivers. I am nearly 50 and had forgotten how wonderfully joyful the Mad Magazines of my youth were. Any Star Wars or Mad fan would love this book. Get it. You wont be disappointed.

I guess I've outgrown MAD magazine. I didn't really find them as funny as I remember, and the pages were so minimized to fit into the book that they could barely be read. Big disappointment.

My son thought this was neat!!!

If you love Star Wars and the Mad crew this book is guaranteed to be a worthy purchase. The gags are timeless and the bits of trivia are delightful. If you're not a Star Wars or Mad fan then there is a possibility that you won't like this book but you should probably read it anyway.

This was my first time reading anything from MAD magazine. However, knowing even the single small detail about their parodic nature, I knew what I was getting myself into. So did some things offend me a bit? Sure, but I expected it, and they make fun of everyone and everything. It does irk me that they were upset that someone actually LIKED one of their covers when they were making fun of that person, but are mostly okay that George Lucas likes (or doesn't like) some of the jokes aimed at him.

Anyway.

I enjoyed this compilation, especially the side notes/annotations with extra info and images to bring the panels from '77 to '05 to the modern knowledge as of the time of this publishing in 2007. It is interesting that there was nothing important enough to add to this (I'm sure they had SW bits but they chose the best, of course) between '85 and '97. THAT tells me even more about MAD: they do their utmost best to stay current.