Spy vs. Spy is a wordless black and white
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story, often humorous, though adventures and soap opera-like dramas are also prevalent. They are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet.In the UK and the...
that has been published in
Mad magazineMad 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 hugely influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The...
since 1961. It was created by
Antonio ProhiasAntonio Prohías , born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, was a cartoonist most famous for creating the comic strip Spy vs. Spy for MAD Magazine....
, a
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
n national who fled to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1960 days before
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008...
took over the Cuban
free pressFreedom of the press consists ofconstitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials.With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information...
.
The "Spy vs. Spy" cartoon was symbolic of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, and was Prohías's comment on the futility of armed escalation and
détenteDétente is a French term, meaning a relaxing or easing; the term has been used in international politics since the early 1970s. Generally, it may be applied to any international situation where previously hostile nations not involved in an open war de-escalate tensions through diplomacy and...
. Under the Spy vs. Spy title panel, the words "BY PROHIAS" are spelled out in
Morse codeMorse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a given message...
(-••• -•-- •--• •-• --- •••• •• •- •••).
The comic features two
spiesSPY may refer to: * SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire* SPY , a U.S...
, Black and White, who are constantly warring against each other, and coming up with increasingly sophisticated ways of doing away with the other.
They are made to look virtually identical:
trilbyA trilby hat is a soft felt men's hat with a deeply indented crown, and a pinch at the front. The brim is narrow and often sharply upturned at the back. Traditionally it was made from rabbit hair felt, but is now sometimes made from other materials, including tweed and wool. Trilbies are softer...
hats, overcoats and long pointed noses (possibly plague doctor outfits ).
Spy vs. Spy is a wordless black and white
comic stripA comic strip is a sequence of cartoons that tells a story, often humorous, though adventures and soap opera-like dramas are also prevalent. They are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist, and many are published on a recurring basis in newspapers and on the Internet.In the UK and the...
that has been published in
Mad magazineMad 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 hugely influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The...
since 1961. It was created by
Antonio ProhiasAntonio Prohías , born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, was a cartoonist most famous for creating the comic strip Spy vs. Spy for MAD Magazine....
, a
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
n national who fled to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1960 days before
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008...
took over the Cuban
free pressFreedom of the press consists ofconstitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials.With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information...
.
The "Spy vs. Spy" cartoon was symbolic of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, and was Prohías's comment on the futility of armed escalation and
détenteDétente is a French term, meaning a relaxing or easing; the term has been used in international politics since the early 1970s. Generally, it may be applied to any international situation where previously hostile nations not involved in an open war de-escalate tensions through diplomacy and...
. Under the Spy vs. Spy title panel, the words "BY PROHIAS" are spelled out in
Morse codeMorse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a given message...
(-••• -•-- •--• •-• --- •••• •• •- •••).
Concept
The comic features two
spiesSPY may refer to: * SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire* SPY , a U.S...
, Black and White, who are constantly warring against each other, and coming up with increasingly sophisticated ways of doing away with the other.
They are made to look virtually identical:
trilbyA trilby hat is a soft felt men's hat with a deeply indented crown, and a pinch at the front. The brim is narrow and often sharply upturned at the back. Traditionally it was made from rabbit hair felt, but is now sometimes made from other materials, including tweed and wool. Trilbies are softer...
hats, overcoats and long pointed noses (possibly plague doctor outfits ). The only difference between them are the color of their clothes: one dresses in white, the other in black. They were similar to
El Hombre Siniestro (the Sinister Man), a wordless cartoon which Prohias had drawn while still living in Cuba and who would also play nasty tricks on people.
A typical plot would be one spy setting up a booby-trap for the other to fall into and be "killed". Sometimes the trap works, but sometimes the other spy comes up with a brilliant counter plan of his own and will be the final winner. In other cases, the losing spy will use a plan B to counter the other spy's counter. Frequently, the winning spy celebrates his victory with a
V signThe V sign is a hand gesture in which the first and second fingers are raised and parted, whilst the remaining fingers are clenched. In the United Kingdom and some other English speaking countries, it is an obscene insulting gesture of defiance when performed with the palm facing inwards...
gesture toward the loser.
Some of the early cartoons (including their very first), published in 1961, had both spies coming up with the same plan to trap the other, the result being a draw. But these were the exception rather than the rule and most of the time one antagonist would beat the other.
In the early years, the title panel of the comic would feature a one-panel gag presenting one spy besting the other; the main comic then used the rest of the panels to tell a different short story with the other spy winning.
During 1962–65 the comic was sometimes called
Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy ("X & Y & Z" in some countries) and featured a female spy, Lady in Grey (or the Grey Spy), with whom both White and Black Spy were in love. She took advantage of this to set traps for which both male spies would fall for and "perish". Because the Lady in Grey would always end up winning, Prohías felt that she was too limited and dropped her from the strip. She later returned under other artists and writers.
Contributors
After Prohías's retirement, several artists worked on the strip.
George WoodbridgeGeorge Woodbridge , an American illustrator known for his exhaustive research and historical accuracy, is sometimes referred to as "America's Dean of Uniform Illustration" because of his expertise in drawing military uniforms....
drew two
Spy vs. Spy which featured no byline. By 1988,
Bob ClarkeBob Clarke is an illustrator whose elegant line appeared in innumerable advertisements as well as MAD Magazine. The label of the Cutty Sark bottle is his creation. Clarke was born in Mamaroneck, NY, USA in 1926. He now resides in Seaford, Delaware....
took over as the strip's artist, and continued through 1993 until being replaced by David Manak. Duck Edwing wrote the majority of the gags that Clarke and Manak illustrated; Manak and Edwing also created a short-lived, syndicated
Spy vs. Spy comic strip in 2002. In April 1997,
Peter KuperPeter Kuper is an American alternative cartoonist and illustrator known for his autobiographical, social, and political observations.-Biography:...
took over as writer and artist for the strip, although occasionally the gags are written by other writers, such as
Michael GallagherMichael Gallagher is an American writer who has contributed to several comic books, as well as to the satire magazine Mad, to which he has contributed several one-page gags since the mid-1990s. He is the son of cartoonist John Gallagher, as well as the nephew of George Gately, creator of the comic...
or Dave Croatto.
Characters
- The Black and White Spies: Employed by the embassies of two nations and identical except for the color of their uniforms, the Spies battle against each other with a variety of complicated (sometimes ridiculously so) weapons, machines and Rube Goldberg
Reuben Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor. Goldberg is best known for a series of popular cartoons he created depicting complex devices that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways – now known as Rube Goldberg machines...
-style props. The victor alternates roughly every other comic, and neither spy is portrayed as good or evil since both of them are equally ruthless towards each other. Even though they are pretty much identical, their habits and jobs aren't exactly the same: the White spy is sort of a scientist, as in a good number of strips he's creating weapons and projects for his agency, while the Black spy is much more of an infiltrator, as he tries to steal the aforementioned plans. He's also a master of disguise, relying much more on deception than the White one, who rarely uses guns or melee weapons to kill his enemy.
- The Grey Spy: Also known as the Lady in Grey (a variant on the stereotypical lady in black), a female spy who appeared in MAD 21 times from 1962–65. When she appeared, the strips were retitled Spy vs Spy vs Spy, and instead of either of the Black or White Spy winning, Grey won and they both lost. The Spies were completely enamored with her, often attempting to rescue her as she pretended to be in distress. Because she always won, Prohías decided to stop using her. Later writers and artists, including Peter Kuper
Peter Kuper is an American alternative cartoonist and illustrator known for his autobiographical, social, and political observations.-Biography:...
, brought her back for occasional appearances.
- The Black and White Leaders: The Black and White Leaders are the highest ranking officers of the embassies that the Spies belong to. Much like the Grey Spy, they often appear in the early strips, especially in the paperbacks. They are huge, barrel-chested decorated officers and give the Spies their missions to carry out. On more than one occasion, the Leaders get fed up with their employees, and in one particular episode, "Defection" (which was later turned into an animated cartoon for Mad TV
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licenses the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise has no connection with the humor magazine outside of animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first TV...
), the Black Leader and the Diplomat fire the Black Spy from his job at the embassy. They have made no appearances in any strips drawn by subsequent artists.
- Other Spies: The 'Spy vs Spy' game for game consoles such as Xbox
The Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
, and PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
introduced two different colored spies, blue and red. These spies can only appear in multiplayer mode. There is also a Robotic spy.
Other media
- Spy vs. Spy animated
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
short cartoons on MADtvMADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licenses the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise has no connection with the humor magazine outside of animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first TV...
have also been made.
- In 2004, Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in many places such as retail stores, restaurants, schools, cinemas and from vending machines. The drink was first made in the 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham in New Bern, North Carolina. The brand was trademarked...
used the characters in a series of four Mountain DewMountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew, is a soft drink manufactured and distributed by PepsiCo. Although its formula was invented in Knoxville, Tennessee, it was first marketed in Knoxville and Johnson City, TN through the 1940s. Then by Barney and Ally Hartman, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and...
animatedAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
television commercials, taking the basic format of the strip, but with all of the action centered around Mountain Dew soft drinks.
- Spy vs. Spy Jr., a version for kids is shown in MAD Kids Magazine, that depicts the spy's antics as children. They use more "child like" weapons, such as using pies instead of dynamite.
- Six original Spy vs. Spy strips by Prohías are collected in the Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the world's largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 16 million items of original material are housed in the archives' research centers in Washington, D.C...
.
- "Spy vs. Spy" has now entered the public lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes....
to mean anything where two opponents are constantly trying to one-up each other.
- Milton Bradley
The Milton Bradley Company is an American game company established by Milton Bradley in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production of McLoughlin Brothers, formerly the largest game manufacturer in the United States and in 1987 it purchased Selchow and Righter,...
released a "Spy vs. Spy" board gameA board game is a game in which counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a "board"...
involving digging tunnels and retrieving bombs http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1686. A GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
game, "Spion & Spion", was also released with different game mechanics http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/32180.
- A film version of the strip has been talked about for several years, attracting the interest of such parties as Austin Powers director Jay Roach
Jay Roach is an American film director and producer, best known for directing the Austin Powers films and Meet the Parents.-Background:...
and actors Jim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and stand-up comedian. Carrey is best known for his performances as multiple characters in the sketch comedy show In Living Color, as the title character in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, as the unlucky TV...
and Damon WayansDamon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, known as one of the popular Wayans brothers.-Early life:...
. It has yet to materialize http://www.comics2film.com/SpyVsSpyArch.shtml.
- A 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 full color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
was released in 2002 but it was very short-lived. It was written by Don EdwingDuck Edwing , aka Don Edwing, is a gag cartoonist whose work has appeared for years in Mad. His signature Duck Edwing is usually accompanied by a small picture of a duck, and duck calls are heard on his answering machine....
and drawn by Dave Manak http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=1059. Comics also appeared in Mad and still appear in Mad Classics done by Dave and Don called the "The Lost Sunday Comic Strips" which was an obvious reference to the "short-lived" Sunday comics.
- Many video games
Spy vs. Spy was a game first published by First Star Software in 1984 for the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64 and Apple II computers. It was an innovative two-player, split-screen game, based on MAD Magazine's long running cartoon strip, Spy vs...
have been released using the characters. The first was released in 1984 by First Star SoftwareFirst Star Software, Inc. is a computer game development, publishing and licensing company, founded by Richard Spitalny and Fernando Herrera in 1982. It is best known for its classic Boulder Dash franchise and Spy vs. Spy titles, originally written for 8-bit home computers like the Apple II, Atari...
on several consoles and home computers like the 8-bit Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January, 1982. Volume production started sometime in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595...
http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D2438. Featuring the "trapulator", an array of booby traps with which players could carry around and trap, blow up, maim, or otherwise injure each other, the game spawned two sequels, "Spy vs.Spy: The Island Caper" and "Spy vs.Spy: Arctic Antics". A new "Spy vs. Spy" game was released for the XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
in 2005. It was going to be released for the PS2, but was then cancelled for the US, only to come out on the PS2 in Europe and Australia. Probably the most popular video game spinoff of the strip was produced for the NESThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , China, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines, it was released as the , commonly abbreviated as the...
, and was simply named "Spy vs. Spy".
- Toyota produced several short films inspired by Spy vs. Spy for their Yaris
Yaris may refer to one of three Toyota Yaris related items:*Toyota Vitz, also sold as the Toyota Yaris hatchback*Toyota Belta, also sold as the Toyota Yaris sedan*Yaris , a video game promoting the Toyota models...
line, called Yaris vs. Yaris, and used to sponsor some of the web broadcasts of ABC primetime television shows AliasAlias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
, Commander in ChiefCommander in Chief is an American drama television series that focused on the fictional administration and family of Mackenzie Allen , the first female President of the United States, who ascended to the role after the previous chief executive, Teddy Bridges , died in office from a sudden cerebral...
, Desperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, and LostLost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles, United States, crashes somewhere in the South Pacific...
.
- Spy vs. Spy continues to run in MAD, now drawn by Peter Kuper
Peter Kuper is an American alternative cartoonist and illustrator known for his autobiographical, social, and political observations.-Biography:...
. Prohías's name still appears in Morse CodeMorse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a given message...
at the top of the feature.
- In 1998 the new-music composer John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn's recorded output is prolific with hundreds of album credits as a performer, composer, or producer...
released a CD with the name Spy vs Spy. Another artist Billy BraggStephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician who blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs. His lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
used it in the title of his CD Life's a Riot with Spy Vs SpyLife's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy is Billy Bragg's first studio album, released in 1983.The original album played at 45 rpm rather than the more usual 33.3 rpm, contained only seven songs and lasted for only 15 minutes and 57 seconds...
.
- On The Daily Show
The Daily Show, known in its current incarnation as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn...
, talk show host Jon StewartJonathan "Jon" Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
compared Jack AbramoffJack Abramoff is an American former lobbyist, businessman and con man who was a central figure in a series of high-profile political scandals. He is currently incarcerated at the satellite prison camp adjacent to the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland...
to the Black Spy, citing a picture of Abramoff leaving the United States CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the Federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of...
after Congress was adjourned during the hearings regarding his lobbying dressed in a black fedora, jacket, pants, and trench coat, remarking "... Abramoff, seen here shortly before having a safe dropped on his head by another spy dressed all in white..."
- In Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenage Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe "Jughead" Jones characters were created by...
' Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, an issue featured a parody of Spy vs Spy with Sonic the Hedgehog, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the protagonist of the eponymous video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released on June 23, 1991, in order to provide Sega with a mascot to...
& Knuckles the EchidnaFor information on the hip-hop group, see The Knux. is a video game character and a hero of the Sonic The Hedgehog game series, as well as some spin-off games and comics. His first appearance was Sonic the Hedgehog 3, released in 1994 to introduce a new rival for Sonic, presented as an antagonist...
in place of the spies. Sonic even used an Alfred E. NeumanAlfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot and iconic cover boy of Mad magazine. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed and named by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman.-History:...
disguise to trick Knuckles into thinking he was a newsstand clerk. The comic ended with both characters being killed by Shadow the Hedgehogis a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series; an artificial life form in the design of a male, black anthropomorphic hedgehog. He resembles Sonic in many ways, such as how his hover skates propel him at extreme speeds to rival those of Sonic; but he distinguishes himself with greater...
, also a spy, who used a Dr. Eggman robot as a decoy. Probably not coincidentally, it was drawn by Dave Manak, who had once drawn Spy vs Spy itself.
- The first numbers of the Mexican edition of Mad Magazine featured besides Spy vs. Spy a strip named Juda vs. Juda, starring two judicial policemen clad in white and black. Their ways to finish one another often involved illegal methods, for example, using cocaine to make the bloodhound of the other Juda go crazy and attack his owner.
- In the "Rayman
Rayman is a video game designed and published by Ubisoft. It was originally released in September 1995 for the Atari Jaguar and MS-DOS, and in November 1995 for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. A port of this game was to be released for the Sega 32X, but the port was canceled when the system...
" video game series, the small characters called "Teensies" have heads that are strikingly resemblant of the spies's heads.
- The comic was parodied in an episode of Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-Head Writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root...
.
- As of late 2007 and early 2008, cable TV channel "Universal Channel" http://www.universalchannel.tv/ which is distributed by cable companies throughout Latin America is showing on commercial breaks a series of computer animated shorts of different "Spy vs Spy" situations, telling viewers to visit the Flash-based Spygames.tv http://www.spygames.tv/objects/media/spy.swf web site which offers visitors the ability to play short games or download wallpapers of the Spy vs Spy theme. The difference between the strip and the Universal shorts is that the Universal Spies are Red and Black instead of the usual Black & White.
- Boston-based sneaker boutique, Bodega, released an officially licensed Spy vs. Spy rendition of the Puma
PUMA AG Rudolf Dassler Sport is a large German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear....
Sky II High, dubbed the Spy II High. The shoe featured Spy images, morse code, Spy vs. Spy lettering, dynamite hang tags, and a hidden compartment. New BalanceNew Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. , best known as simply New Balance, is a footwear manufacturer based in Boston. It was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch Support Company...
is also scheduled to release an unofficially inspired version of the MT580 sneaker featuring a bomb or stick of dynamite on the heel.
- In an episode of That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television sitcom that centered on the lives of a group of teenagers living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 1976 to 12:00 AM, January 1, 1980. It debuted on the FOX television network on August 23, 1998 and ran for eight consecutive...
; "Ski Trip" Hyde is seen reading a comic book of Spy vs Spy and laughing aloud (another character is seen visibly upset over something in the scene). However, he insists the reason he is laughing is because "Spy V. Spy, these guys kill me!".
- On American Dad, the black spy and the lady in grey are shown on the men's and women's room door at the CIA.
- In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, commonly abbreviated to MGS4, is a stealth action video game developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3. Guns of the Patriots is the latest addition to the Metal Gear series and was directed by Hideo Kojima...
, Act 3, Tailing sequence, when you look behind Snake you can see an extremely similar character to the White Spy. He can also be seen for a split second in the Resistance fort through a hidden L1 sequence.
- In the Family Guy episode Spies Reminiscent of Us
"Spies Reminiscent of Us" is the third episode of the eighth season of Family Guy. It aired on October 11, 2009 on Fox. The episode is an homage to Spies Like Us, and features guest voices Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd as themselves and a live action appearance by James Lipton.The episode was...
, the spies are seen. White says "Actually, we've resolved our differences". The spies hold hands afterward.
Influence
- In his DVD
DVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
audio commentary for the Hong Kong movieThe cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
The Killer, critic and writer Bey LoganBey Logan is a respected expert on East Asian cinema, particularly Hong Kong action cinema...
claims that the Mexican stand-off, a typical feature of a John WooJohn Woo Yu-Sen is a Chinese film director and producer from Hong Kong. Recognized for his stylized films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, Hard Boiled, and...
film, was inspired by Spy vs Spy.
- The BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
cartoon series, The LikeaballsThe Likeaballs is a cartoon created by Jim Quick that airs on BBC One and CBBC. It began production in 2006. The programme is known as The Lurkaballs in some regions for unknown reasons. It is distributed by HIT Entertainment.-Themes:...
, features a villainous group called T.H.R.A.A.P.F. (The Humourless Race Against Aliens Playing Football). These characters dress in trilby hats and overcoats and have long pointed noses.
- In the episode Moscow Side Story, an episode of the Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries series, the gremlins from the Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin otherwise known as the Russian Parliament , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
were dressed up just like the two spies from Spy Vs. Spy.
- While creating the comic book character Anarky
Anarky is a fictional character in the . Co-created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, he first appeared in Detective Comics #608 as an adversary of Batman. Stories revolving around Anarky often focus on political and philosophical themes. The character, who was named after the philosophy of...
, Alan Grant requested that artist Norm BreyfogleNorman Keith "Norm" Breyfogle is an American comic artist. He was involved with the character of Batman in one book or another consistently from 1987-1995...
design the character as a cross between V of V for VendettaV for Vendetta is a ten-issue comic-book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s about the 1990s...
and the Black Spy.
- In the animated music video for the song Cichosza by polish singer Grzegorz Turnau
Grzegorz Turnau is a Polish composer, pianist, poet and singer.He was born on July 31 1967 in Kraków , Poland. At age seventeen he won First Prize at The Student Song Festival in Kraków in 1984...
a character appears that resembles the Black Spy. He wanders through an empty city, corresponding with the lyrics of the song.
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