Sergio Aragones - Interview With Mad Magazine's Legend At WonderCon SF

Sergio Aragones is a giant in the comic book World, and indeed, in American Culture, but in an oh, so subversive way. Or, as he puts it, because his work is in print, Sergio gets to lead a "normal" life at home. But when he attends WonderCon and ComicCon, all that changes, and he's "mobbed" with "all this adulation," as he says with his infectious laugh.

Sergio Aragones is, with Al Jaffee, one of MAD Magazine's longest running cartoonists, and is best known for the barbarian named "Groo." More recently Mr.Aragones was signed on as a cartoonist with The Simpsons franchise, and Bart Simpson Comics.

But how did Sergio come to work for MAD Magazine? "I had come to MAD from Mexico, and had a portfolio of magazines, and everyone thought that what I did was a little too crazy for them, so they said 'Go to MAD. Go to MAD,' so I did.

"The reason that MAD is what it is,"Aragones said, "is because, in the beginning, parents thought it was a subsersive magazine. So kids would read it against the will of the parent. The parent would say 'Oh you shouldn't read that,' without knowing why."

Sergio explains that it was something people weren't used to at the time, but because kids loved it so much, MAD grew in popularity. Today, people still read it, he says, because "It hasn't lost the touch." And more because MAD fits the culture of the time, the Zeitgeist. Aragones has to ask his daughter to help him understand who a certain rapper MAD may parody is, for example. He calls MAD a "primer in humor" for young people.

Is The Marriage of Comics and Film A Good Thing?

Is the use of comic books as platforms for movies helping or hurting the comic book industry? While movies like Spider-Man and the various versions of the Batman comics have done well at the box office, some comic book artists grumble about how Hollywood's arrogance has contaminated the industry. Overall Aragones observes that "it's a good thing."

"The only people who get hurt," he says, "is a lot of people don't get the credit they deserve. So the big companies are very oblivious of what should be done. They want their names on it, and they don't care about the creators. It's very good for them economically sometimes, but the big producers, they come to ComicCon, they get a comic book, they make it into a movie, and they don't care. The pay the publishers big money. The publishers keeps it; and the publishers doesn't share it.

While Sergio says that's the only downfall of Hollywood's involvement, he reports that younger artists are more "hip" to the ways of Hollywood. "Before," Sergio says, "we were very stupid. (we say) 'Uhhh...' (Over the excitement of a large check.) They don't let the publisher keep the moneys (from movie deals). So now, it's different.

Aragones says that a common comic book may see a circulation of 100,000, but a movie version of the same work is seen by millions of people. One example of this is the graphic novel called Scott Pilgrim, which had various volumes, including one called Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. It was little known outside a small cult following of devotees, but the production of the movie Scott Pilgrim Versus The World brought the story of Scott Pilgrim's battle to win the heart of a girl with too many evil ex-boyfriends to many, and even though it didn't break even, the movie boosted demand for the book series, and gave it Worldwide visibility.

Did MAD Draw Government Attention?

Did MAD ever go "too far?" So far that it drew the attention of the Federal Government? Aragones says no: "Satire," he says "was one of the things that guarantees that things won't be touched." If an alien came to Earth, Sergio would show the person "anything" because words aren't necessary. "Let him choose."