#SQUADGOALS (24)

By: Joe Alterio
June 14, 2017

One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by HILOBROW friends and regulars during 2017, on the subject of our favorite squads.

*

In the fall of 1984, Mrs. Roche’s first grade class was tromped dutifully to the school library, in order to take part in a mock election. Each grade had one. Of the 20 kids in the class, 19 voted for Reagan. I was the lone Mondale vote.

I’ve felt like a political weirdo for a long time.

When MAD Magazine came into my life, I finally found a set of weirdos — Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Don Martin, William Gaines, and the rest — who spoke my language. My father got me a subscription to MAD when I was about 8. I think he thought it more in the vein of fart jokes than pithy political satire, but it quickly and gloriously further alienated me from the rest of my peers. MAD, along with Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County, formed a kind of snarky training camp for me and my sense of political humor that was at once nihilistic, and (like most cynical takes) at its core deeply idealistic. The writers and artists at MAD didn’t just poke fun at Reaganism and its assault on the poor, it directed howitzer fire at it in rage and despair. The Usual Gang of Idiots truly hated the jingoist charlatans in office, the sanctimonious scam-artist televangelists, the absurdist American advertising culture gone wild — out of a patriotic urge to be a part of the conversation.

They passed that urge on to me. How many 8-year-olds did you know who had an opinion on the S&L scandal?

I learned about nomination conventions, predictable movie plots, false prophets, and the inherent cruelness of American culture in a more startling and enjoyable way than any civics or art class could ever provide. Delivered in a brown paper wrapper, once a month, to our doorsteps, MAD led the way for I wonder how many young impressionable kids who were looking for a reason why the universe didn’t seem to fit together right.

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#SQUADGOALS: Annie Nocenti on THE WILD BUNCH | Alice Boone on PRETTY LITTLE LIARS | Gordon Dahlquist on BOWIE’S BAND | Rob Wringham on THE HOME GUARD | Jennifer Krasinski on WATERSHIP DOWN RABBITS | Annalee Newitz on ROBIN HOOD’S MERRY PALS | Adrienne Crew on THE BLOOMSBURY GROUP | Mark Kingwell on THE HONG KONG CAVALIERS | Adam McGovern on KAMANDI’S FAMILY | John Overholt on THE CLUB | Greg Rowland on THE VULTURE SQUADRON | Sara Ryan on BETSY, TACY & TIB | Chelsey Johnson on VI ÄR BÄST! | Brian Berger on THE JOHN FORD STOCK COMPANY | Sherri Wasserman on THE WARRIORS | Jessamyn West on FAREYNIKTE PARTIZANER ORGANIZATSYE | Josh Glenn on DADA | Matthew De Abaitua on THE TIME | Mandy Keifetz on THE FOUNDING FATHERS | William Nericcio on ZOOT SUIT PACHUCOS | Deb Chachra on FIREFLY CREW | Matthew Battles on THE ANIMAL FAMILY | Ingrid Schorr on THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS | Joe Alterio on THE USUAL GANG OF IDIOTS | Dan Reines on THE BREAKFAST CLUB | Rob Walker on LES TROIS INSÉPARABLES | Devin McKinney on 1975 RED SOX | Steph Burt on DAMAGE CONTROL | Elina Shatkin on THE HOLOGRAMS | Chris Spurgeon on THE ALKALI METALS | Carl Wilson on NEW YORK SCHOOL POETS | Barbara Bogaev on THE MOD SQUAD | Franklin Bruno on THE AACM | Judith Zissman on THE FUTURIANS | Mimi Zeiger on ARCHIGRAM | Jacob Mikanowski on THE RATBASTARDS | Lynn Peril on THE DALY SISTERS | Anindita Basu Sempere on MEG MURRY’S FAMILY | Libi Rose on THE ENIAC TEAM | Gary Panter on THE TRIBE OF HIPPIES | Peter Doyle on CORNEL WILDE BOYS | Ken Layne on THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG | Molly Wright Steenson on BAUHAUS | Katie Hennessey on BEAT POETS | Mimi Lipson on THE RUNAWAYS | Jordan Ellenberg on BOURBAKI | Michael Campochiaro on THE SUICIDE SQUAD | Deborah Wassertzug on THE BLOODHOUND GANG | Colin Dickey on ACÉPHALE | Douglas Wolk on SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY | David Smay on THE MYSTIC KNIGHTS OF THE OINGO BOINGO | Karinne Keithley Syers on BLACKLIPS PERFORMANCE CULT.

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