That's a photo of my best buddy in the male category, Sergio Aragonés. Sergio is alive and well and surprisingly healthy…and his drawing, which was always sensational, is somehow better than it ever has been. I cannot come up with any logical explanation for that which does not involve cloning.
I was a bit hesitant to post birthday greetings to my amigo today for two reasons. One is that any time I've posted them and a photo in the past, I get e-mails from a couple of folks saying, "You scared me! I went to your blog and for a few seconds there, I thought So-and-So was dead!" Sergio is, as I just said, alive and well…and drawing. Matter of fact, I think this is supposed to be a secret but since they can't fire me and nobody told me not to mention this, Sergio has recently drawn some new material for MAD. The magazine remains, sadly, a reprint vessel but they're doing some new pieces for an upcoming issue celebrating its 70th anniversary!
And the other reason I was hesitant to wish S.A. an H.B. is that in the past whenever I've wished anyone that, I hear that other friends are miffed and feel snubbed that their birthdays weren't celebrated on this blog. Be reasonable, people. I already post too many obits here. If I salute all my friends on their birthdays, this blog will be nothing but He's Dead, She Isn't, He Is, He Isn't, She isn't, He's Dead…
So Sergio is, as he has been all his life, an exception. He is a gentleman and a very funny person and a very good friend and I've known him for over 50 years and worked with him more than 40 of those and we've never had a fight and even when we disagree about something, we settle it with no friction and I just love the guy. There. I said it.