MAD About Star Wars: Thirty Years of Classic Parodies by Jonathan Bresman, foreword by George Lucas
Del Rey, $21.95 (Cheap!), 152pp, tp, 9780345501646.
It’s MAD Magazine! It’s Star Wars! What more need be said?
Seriously (well, no, it’s MAD; serious has very little to do with it), Bresman is a senior editor at MAD who actually used to work for Lucasfilm while they were making some of the Star Wars movies, so he’s got the inside track on everything. In addition to simply reprinting what may be ever Star Wars spoof, parody, knock-off, send-up, and gag that appeared in the magazine over the last thirty years (along with references to the issues in which they appeared), Bresman has added little notes, addenda, pointers to things you might miss, and other addenda along the sides.
While Lucas’s foreword is a great touch, there are also reprints of fan letters Lucas sent to MAD over the years. One of them was used when Lucasfilm’s legal department wrote about trademark infringement; MAD responded by sending a copy of Lucas’s fan letter, and the threatened suit disappeared.
This book shouldn’t be read at one sitting because, just like the magazine, the novelty, the laugh factor, the hilarity may tend to wear off from overexposure (that’s why we’re reviewing it so long after it first appeared). Rather, savor bits of it from time to time; you’ll remember what you really thought of the movies, and laugh anew at the insight of these social commentators.
MAD About Star Wars mocks the geeks who may be the book’s biggest audience… and we love the book for it.