The FROG PRINCE Ivo Astalos

Anyone familiar with German MAD will recognize this artist's work. Ivica Astalos has been contributing to German MAD since the early 70's in a style somewhere between Don Martin and Sergio Aragones. I was first introduced to his work in the mid '70's when my cousin gave me a German MAD while I was visiting my Oma and Opa in Hamburg. I recall that his work was easy to understand since he had a pantomime type style.

In the bottom color piece (sorry the color didn't come out right) the influence of the Don Martin style Frog Prince is immediately evident. I am not sure if this ever saw print. It is one of about 3 that Ivo had e.mailed me some time back. We had been sending each other magazines our work has appeared in and I had the opportunity to enjoy the new millennium German MAD.

As you can see from Ivo's original sketches German MAD has also been on the decline in terms of numbers for quite a while now. I for one hope it does not suffer the same fate that MAD has here and go quarterly.

For a great interview with Ivo Astalos pick up a copy of The Journal of MADness #14. You can also check out Ivo's site to see what he's been up to lately http://www.veggiswelt.de/frittenbudenzauber/