Don Edwing
Encyclopedia
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
. His signature Duck Edwing is usually accompanied by a small picture of a duck, and duck calls are heard on his answering machine. Mad editor John Ficarra
John Ficarra
John Ficarra has been the editor-in-chief of Mad since 1984, sharing the position for most of that time with Nick Meglin. He has been on the editorial staff of the magazine for more than 25 years.-References:...
said, "He's exactly how people picture a Mad magazine writer." In 2007, Edwing told an interviewer, "I always believed that when you choose your field, you should specialize. You never deviate. I chose 'sick puppy.' "
The Duck takes wing
A native of Brooklyn, Edwing began drawing at age nine. He started making the rounds with his cartoons after leaving the Navy in 1958, receiving $5 for his first sale in 1960. His tenure with Mad spans five decades, beginning with his first Mad article, an installment of the magazine's "Scenes We'd Like to See" series in Mad #70 (April 1962) and continuing at least through the 500th issue in 2009.Before drawing his own cartoons, he was the uncredited writer for most of Don Martin's full-page sequences. During Don Martin's final years with Mad, Edwing began receiving a writer's byline for many of the gags in Martin's cartoons. After Martin's death in 2000, Edwing was asked about their working relationship:
- Martin and I corresponded mostly with phone calls. The Mad editors did all the work by putting us together. I merely cheered Don up on a daily basis by telling him jokes, which had nothing to do with the work in front of him. I marveled at how he would take my chicken scratch sketches of a gag and transform them into a 2-D, animated, spectacular scene. The man was a major talent... l miss him.
The Duckside
Edwing also wrote Spy vs. SpySpy vs. Spy
Spy vs. Spy is a black and white comic strip that debuted in Mad magazine #60, dated January 1961, and was originally published by EC Comics. The strip was created by Antonio Prohías.The Spy vs...
for about 12 years, as well as the Spy vs. Spy syndicated comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, along with his own feature, Tales from the Duckside. As Mads "bizarre biz-artist" he authored and drew 17 Mad paperbacks. He also wrote three "Spy vs. Spy" books and Don Martin's "Captain Klutz" material.
Edwing collaborated with Paul Coker Jr.
Paul Coker Jr.
Paul Coker is an American illustrator. He has worked in many media, including Mad, character design for Rankin-Bass TV specials such as Frosty the Snowman, and advertising....
on two comic strips, Lancelot and Horace and Buggy. His cartoons have appeared in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
, The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
and other magazines. Interviewed in 2002, Edwing was asked about his work outside Mad:
- Dave Manak and myself just finished up working on
Bob Thaves
Robert Thaves was the creator of the comic strip Frank and Ernest, which began in 1972.Thaves' desire to become a cartoonist began in his childhood. He had no formal training; instead, he practised by studying and drawing the works of other cartoonists...
' Frank and Ernest
Frank and Ernest (comic strip)
Frank and Ernest is a comic strip created and illustrated by Bob Thaves and later Tom Thaves. It debuted on November 6, 1972, and has since been published daily in over 1,200 newspapers...
. For Sweden, I did Super Sock and various lunatic Edwing characters that were highly successful adventures.
The short-lived Spy vs. Spy comic strip was a full-color Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
syndicated by Tribune Media Services
Tribune Media Services
Tribune Media Services is a syndication company owned by the Tribune Company.The company has two divisions, "News and Features" and "Entertainment Products"...
as part of Mads year-long 50th anniversary celebration. Charter subscribers included The Los Angeles Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Denver Post and Atlanta Journal Constitution. TMS Director of Creative Services Fred Schecker commented, "We're excited to represent a comic that so many newspaper readers already know and love. It is still as fresh and appealing as ever. In fact, it's aged a whole lot better than I have."
Duck and Cluck
Don met Clair, who is known as Cluck Edwing, in Virginia in the late 1970s. They married and moved to Florida, where they lived together until her passing in 2008. He created the Golden Gator Award which is given to the wives of cartoonists. In 2003, he began designing slot machines for International Game TechnologyInternational Game Technology
International Game Technology is a Nevada based company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, sales and distribution of gaming machines and network system products internationally, as well as online and mobile gaming solutions for regulated markets. The company's main offices are...
, the world's largest slot machine developer.