I really like this photo that someone took with my camera at a New York Con. The guy on the left is Charlie Kochman of Harry N. Abrams Books. He's the editor/exec responsible for my book on Jack Kirby and for that great collection Abrams put out of Al Jaffee's Tall Tales cartoons. The fellow on the right is, it would seem, me.
The man between us is Al Jaffee, who is 90 years old today and still doing what he does best…creating silly pictures for MAD magazine. I always liked Al's work and in all my days of reading MAD and researching MAD and writing about MAD and talking about MAD with most of the key people who've created its contents, I've never met anyone who didn't like Al Jaffee's work. I haven't even met anyone who didn't like Al Jaffee the human being, which is amazing. I mean, you figure: The guy's that talented and beloved, there have got to be at least a few people jealous of him. If there are, I sure haven't found them. He's not only a great talent but a great gentleman as well. Those two things don't always go together but with Al, one seems like an extension of the other.
Anyway, I like this photo because it shows me next to the wonderful Mr. Jaffee and maybe, just like guilt by assocation, someone will think that some of what's great about him is rubbing off on me. I wish. But what I really like about this photo is that you can fold the right third of it over the middle third and make Al Jaffee completely disappear. If you're viewing this on an iPad, try folding it over and see if I'm not right.
Happy 90, Al. And congratulations on becoming middle-aged.