Spy vs Spy

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 . 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. After an initial rejection but ultimately a successful showing of his work and a prototype cartoon for Spy vs. Spy , Prohías was hired. 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." Prohías was censored by Mad magazine publisher William Gaines on at least one occasion: the strip that eventually appeared in Mad magazine #84 (January 1964) was altered to remove scenes where the spies drink and smoke (Gaines had a strong anti-smoking stance). 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). 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). The strips continued, with Duck Edwing writing the majority, and the illustrations usually being done by Bob Clarke or Dave Manak. Clarke's strips were identifiable through his signature of "'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, the initial run of Spy vs. Spy ended with issue #18 (the magazine had moved to Burbank, California in 2018, adopting new numbering starting with #1). That 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. Kuper returned in 2022 for the 70th Anniversary issue -- issue #28, which he had initially confirmed would be the last time he would be drawing the strip. However, starting with issue #40 in 2024, Kuper's Spy vs. Spy came back permanently.