Al Jaffee, Mad Magazine Legend, Dies at 102

Famed Mad Magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee has died at the age of 102. The news comes from the Twitter feed of Tom Heintjes, dedicated to Eisner Award winner Hogan's Alley. "I'm very sad to report that the great Al Jaffee has died," the tweet reads. "He had celebrated his 102nd birthday just last month. An incredible legend. RIP to a giant of cartooning." Along with being known for Mad Magazine, Al Jaffee also contributed to Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, which would eventually become the publishing juggernaut Marvel Comics. His longest-running Mad Magazine feature was the Fold-In, which featured a piece of artwork that had to be folded vertically and inward to reveal a new image.  

Al Jaffee discussed his popular Fold-Ins during an interview with Vulture in March, which was originally conducted in 2008. The Fold-In ran from 1964 until 2019 and became a popular feature in Mad. Jaffee also talked about joining Mad for the first time.

"In 1955, three years after the magazine began. Harvey Kurtzman came to me and asked if I'd like to come and work for him. I had freelanced for MAD with a couple of pieces, and he liked my work," he said about his early days at Mad. 

"It was. I was making a very nice living at Timely, but it just seemed like the right time," Jaffee added about switching from Timely to Mad. "I told Stan Lee I was leaving, and then I called Harvey and said, "I'm coming with you." And he said, "Well, actually, I'm not with MAD anymore. But don't worry. I've got something in the works." He had just left MAD for a new humor magazine published by Hugh Hefner, called Trump. This was in the mid- to late 1950s."

He then went into the history behind the fabled Fold-In. "At this time — this would have been in April of 1964 — every major magazine was publishing some sort of foldout feature. Playboy, of course, had made it big by having a centerfold. So did Life magazine," he said. "They would have one showing, say, the geography of the moon, or something like that. Even Sports Illustrated had one at one point. So, naturally, how do you go the other way? You have a fold-in, rather than a fold-out. I created a mock-up, and wrote on it something like: "All good magazines are doing a foldout, but this lousy magazine is going to do a 'Fold-in.' I went to Al Feldstein and showed it to him, but I didn't think the idea had a chance in hell of being used."