Al Jaffee - Illustration History

Biography

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Al Jaffee was one of four sons to immigrant parents Morris Jaffee and Michlia (Mildred) Gordon. Both parents immigrated to New York from Lithuania in 1905 and 1913, and later married in 1919. His father had acclimated to the pace of 20th century America, but his mother never fully settled in. By the age of 6, Al’s mother had three more sons—Harry, David, and Bernard. That same year, she decided to take the children and bring them back to her hometown of Zarasai, Lithuania. However, the trip there did not come without its problems, and it was then that Jaffee realized he was on his own—he could not rely on his mother. His time in Lithuania was far from comforting when they arrived. Although the landscape and traditions drew him away from the hustle and bustle of America, living abroad introduced him to poverty, cold temperatures, and lice. At this time, Jewish residents were also experiencing antisemitism, with limitations set on mobility and danger of being attacked.

A reprieve from the sudden change of environment came in the form of packages sent by Al’s father that contained Sunday strips from American newspapers, which Al and his brothers greatly enjoyed reading. After a year of living in Zarasai, it appeared his mother had no intention of leaving. In 1928, his father suddenly showed up to bring the family back to the US, but upon their return they were forced to sleep on relatives’ floors due to the resources Al’s father spent on chasing his family down. Life got tougher when the Great Depression hit, and his father was forced to work part-time as a mail carrier. With the money she was able to scrape together, Michlia took her children and brought them back to Lithuania. This tug-o-war between Al’s parents went on for six years, and it wasn’t until 1933 when his father came to bring his sons back to the US a final time. At 12 years old, Al and his two brothers, Harry and Bernard, left Lithuania a final time. His mother kept David with her and were set to follow in six months. The last time Al saw his mother was at the train station as they were departing. It wasn’t until 1940 that Al’s brother David was brought to the U.S.—a year prior to the German occupation of Lithuania.

In 1935, Al was among a select number of students from his junior high school that were selected to test for admission to the newly opened Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art. There, he met future MAD contributors such as Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, and Wolf Eisenberg. However, it was his brother Harry who would find success in the art world first. His brother’s success came from people’s interest in miniature military plane replicas, which he would produce, then sell in area department stores. Al, along with other workers—including Will Elder— helped Harry produce and sell his work.

After Al graduated from high school, he was offered a scholarship to the Art Students League in New York, and admission to Cooper Union. However, determined to make it in the comics business, he turned down both opportunities. Instead, he brought his portfolio around to various comic publishers. He was later hired by Will Eisner to draw a back-up series for Military Comics. He worked on the comic until 1943 when he began getting tired of taking direction from editors. A year later, Jaffee found work at Timely Comics under the direction of Stan Lee. At first, he worked on penciling for The Imp series in Captain America Comics. However, not satisfied, he went to Lee directly and was hired to work on series such as “Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal.” One of his fellow collaborators on the project was future MAD artist, Dave Berg. For Jaffee, his work on Ziggy was much more enjoyable. His collaboration with Lee was creative, and editorially, Lee was hands-off.

That same year, Jaffee was drafted into the U.S. Air Force, but did not train to become a pilot due to motion sickness. Instead, he was sent to Salt Lake City where he ran an art therapy program for soldiers suffering from shellshock. He also accepted an assignment for the Pentagon where he illustrated pamphlets for a rehabilitation program. While working for the Pentagon, he met Ruth Alquist, and in 1945 the two were married. A year later, Jaffee returned to New York where he continued to work at Timely Comics as an associate editor, and soon moved to working on the series Patsy Walker. Unfortunately, in 1949 when the comics boom ended, Stan Lee was forced to lay off all his staff. However, within a year, Timely rebranded to Atlas Comics and Jaffee was brought back as a freelancer to work on Patsy Walker, and Super Rabbit.

In 1952, Harvey Kurtzman started up MAD for EC Comics. Hesitant to leave Atlas, Jaffee first started working for MAD during his spare time, contributing a couple features. In 1956, Jaffee left Atlas and began working on two different undertakings. He first started working at MAD in 1955 where he worked primarily as a writer up until 1964—the same year he created his first fold-in. However, when Kurtzman left in 1956, Jaffee followed him on his other endeavors. When those failed, Jaffee returned in 1958. At the same time, he was also making comic strips titled “Tall Tales,” which was picked up by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate. His comic found its way into hundreds of newspapers and ran up until 1963. Fortunately, in the April 1964 issue of MAD, as a response to other magazines’ fold-outs—such as Sports Illustrated and National Geographic—he created the iconic MAD fold-in, which he worked on up until 2020. Initially meant to be a one-off, his fold-ins received such positive feedback that very rarely was there ever a fold-in missing from the magazine. Jaffee’s final fold-in appeared in MAD’s special, celebrating his 100th birthday. Another feature that Jaffee was well-known for included his “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions”—a series that not only made its way into the magazine—but earned its very own series of paperback books. Overall, Jaffee contributed to 510 issues of MAD, and produced 17 best-selling paperbacks. His career with MAD spanned over sixty years, and when he announced his retirement in 2020, the fold-ins were passed on to artist Johnny Sampson. During his lifetime, Jaffee won numerous awards including the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year in 2008; the Advertising and Illustration Award from the National Cartoonists Society in 1973; the Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist/Writer in 2001; and the Sergio Award from the Comic Art Professional Society in 2011.

In April 2023, Al Jaffee passed away at the age of 102. As of 2024, Jaffee still holds the title for longest-running contributor for MAD magazine—closely followed by Cuban artist Sergio Aragonés.

Illustrations by Al Jaffee

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Jaffee, Al. The Mad Book of Magic and Other Dirty Tricks. New York: Signet Books, 1970.

Jaffee, Al. Mad’s Al Jaffee Spews Out More Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. New York: Signet Books, 1972.

Jaffee, Al. Al Jaffee’s Mad (Yecch!) Monstrosities. New York: Warner Books, 1974.

Jaffee, Al. Al Jaffee’s Mad Inventions. New York: Warner Books, 1978.

Weisman, Mary-Lou and Al Jaffee. Al Jaffee’s Mad Life. New York: It Books, 2010.