Editing Al Jaffee (section)

===''Mad''===
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Jaffee first appeared in ''Mad'' in 1955, one issue after its transformation from comic book format to magazine.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Greg |date=April 10, 2023 |title=Al Jaffee Dies: Mad Magazine Cartoonist Who Created Enduring "Fold-In" Feature Was 102 |url=https://deadline.com/2023/04/al-jaffee-dead-mad-magazine-cartoonist-fold-in-feature-was-102-1235321455/ |access-date=April 10, 2023 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref> When editor [[Harvey Kurtzman]] left in a dispute three issues later, Jaffee went with Kurtzman.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=April 10, 2023 |title=Al Jaffee, Iconic Mad Magazine 'Fold-in' Artist, Dies at 102 |url=https://www.cbr.com/al-jaffee-mad-magazine-fold-in-artist-obituary/ |access-date=April 11, 2023 |website=CBR |language=en}}</ref> Jaffee contributed to Kurtzman's first two post-''Mad'' publishing efforts, ''[[Trump (magazine)|Trump]]'' and the creator-owned ''[[Humbug (magazine)|Humbug]]'', though both were much less successful than Mad.<ref name=":0" /> In 2008, the first full reprint of ''Humbug'' was published as a two-volume set by [[Fantagraphics]]; the set includes a newly commissioned cover illustration by Jaffee, and a co-interview with Jaffee and [[Arnold Roth]].

After ''Humbug'' folded in 1958, Jaffee brought his unpublished material to ''Mad'', which bought the work. "[[William Gaines|Bill Gaines]] took out every ''Trump'' and ''Humbug''," remembered Jaffee, "called me into his office, sat me down on the couch next to him, and went over every issue and said "Which is yours?"  And as he came to each one, when he saw my stuff, he OK'd to hire me."<ref name="The Comics Journal' 2000, pg. 43"/>

====The Fold-In====
[[File:Attachment-mad-fold-this-book-book-al-jaffee.jpg|thumb|right|A collection of fold-ins with a self-portrait of the artist aping [[Alfred E. Neuman]].  The subtitle alludes to [[Steal This Book|Abbie Hoffman's famous slogan]].]]
In issue #86 of 1964, Jaffee created his longest-running ''Mad'' feature, the [[Mad Fold-in|Fold-In]]. In each, a drawing is folded vertically and inward to reveal a new "hidden" picture (as well as a new caption).  Originally, Jaffee intended it as a one-shot "cheap" satire of the triple fold-outs that were appearing in glossy magazines such as ''[[Playboy]]'', ''[[National Geographic]]'', and ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]''.  But Jaffee was asked to do a second installment, and soon the Fold-In became a recurring feature on the inside back cover of the magazine. In 2011, Jaffee reflected, "The thing that I got a kick out of was&nbsp;... ''[[Jeopardy!]]'' showed a Fold-In and the contestants all came up with the word they were looking for, which was 'Fold-In.'  So I realized, I created an English language word."

In 2010, Jaffee described the earliest Fold-Ins:
{{Blockquote|I thought to myself&nbsp;... now it's folded in and I've got to have something on the left side here, and something right side here. And the only thing that popped into my head was that [[Elizabeth Taylor]] had just dumped [[Eddie Fisher]] and was carrying on with [[Richard Burton]]. So I had Elizabeth Taylor kissing Richard Burton, and a cop is holding the crowd back&nbsp;– and just for the fun of it I put Eddie Fisher being trampled by the crowd. What a cruel thing to do! And then, when you fold it in, she's moving on from Richard Burton and kissing the next guy in the crowd. It's so simplistic and silly and juvenile! And anyone could have done that!

I showed it to [[Al Feldstein]], and the first thing I said was, "Al, I've got this crazy idea, and you're not going to buy it, because it mutilates the magazine." So I put it in front of him, and the thing about Al was, he liked things that intrigued him. The mechanics of it intrigued him. He said, "You mean, you fold it, like this...? And then...?" He folded it, he unfolded it, he folded it, and then he said, "I like this!" But I said, "Al, it mutilates the magazine." And he said, "Well, I'll have to check it with [[William Gaines|Bill]]." He takes it, runs it to Bill's office, and he was there a little while, and he comes back and he says, "We're going to do it! You know what Bill said? Bill said, 'So they mutilate the magazine, and then they'll buy another one to save!'

Four or five weeks later, Al comes over to me and says, "When are you going to do the next Fold-In?" And I said, "I don't have another Fold-In. That was it!" So he said, "Come on, you can come up with something else." I wracked my brain, and the only thing I could come up with was Nixon [whose face was hidden within curtain folds]. That one really set the tone for what the cleverness of the Fold-Ins has to be. It couldn't just be bringing someone from the left to kiss someone on the right.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thephoenix.com/Boston/arts/111658-interview-al-jaffee/|newspaper=[[The Boston Phoenix]]|author=Mazur, Dan|title=Interview: Al Jaffee [unabridged]: Mad about the man|language=en-US|url-status=dead|date=November 18, 2010 |archive-date=October 15, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015211418/http://thephoenix.com/Boston/arts/111752-interview-al-jaffee-unabridged/}}</ref>}}

The Fold-In became one of ''Mad''{{'}}s signature features, and it appeared in almost every issue of the magazine from 1964 to 2020. A single issue in 1977 was published without a Fold-In (though Jaffee supplied the issue's back cover), and a 1980 issue instead featured a unique double-visual gimmick by Jaffee in which the inside back cover and the outside back cover merged to create a third image when held up to the light.  The third-ever Fold-In in 1964 featured a unique diagonal folding design, rather than the standard left-right vertical format.  The image revealed the four members of [[The Beatles]] becoming bald (and thus losing their popularity).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://madcoversite.com/quiz_beatlefold.html |title=Fold-In Detail of ''Mad'' #88, by Doug Gilford |publisher=Madcoversite.com |access-date=October 10, 2012}}</ref>

In a ''Mad''-like wrinkle, there are two answers to the question "When was Jaffee's last Fold-in?" The final one he designed appeared in the June 2019 issue. But his last Fold-in to be published, a personal farewell to readers, appeared in the August 2020 issue. Jaffee had prepared it six years in advance, to be published after his own death. Instead, it ran after he officially announced his retirement at the age of 99, as the conclusion of an "All Jaffee" tribute issue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/al-jaffee-retires-mad-magazine-final-fold-in/|title = Al Jaffee Retires, as Mad Magazine Releases His Final Fold-In|date = June 9, 2020}}</ref><ref name="wapo">{{cite news |title=Mad magazine legend Al Jaffee retires at age 99 after a record-breaking career |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/06/06/al-jaffee-mad-magazine-retires/ |access-date=June 9, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post|first=Michael|last=Cavna |date=June 6, 2020}}</ref> Cartoonist Johnny Sampson succeeded Jaffee on the feature.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/03/welcome-to-the-fold-mads-heir-to-al-jaffee/|title=Welcome to the Fold: MAD's Heir to Al Jaffee|date=March 25, 2021|access-date=June 30, 2024|website=[[The Saturday Evening Post]]}}</ref>

''[[The Far Side]]'' creator [[Gary Larson]] described his experience with the Fold-In: "The dilemma was always this: Very slowly and carefully fold the back cover&nbsp;... ''without'' creasing the page and quickly look at the joke. Jaffee's artistry ''before'' the folding was so amazing that I suspect I was not alone in not wanting to deface it in any way."<ref name="Warner Books 1997" /> In 1972, Jaffee received a [[National Cartoonists Society#The Reuben Awards|Special Features Reuben Award]] for his Fold-Ins.

Jaffee used a computer only for [[Typography|typographic]] maneuvers to make certain Fold-In tricks easier to design and he typically took two weeks to sketch and finalize an image.<ref name="guardian2016">{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/09/95-year-old-mad-cartoonist-al-jaffee-the-world-is-full-of-bloviators |title= 95-year-old ''Mad'' Cartoonist Al Jaffee: 'The World Is Full of Bloviators' |last=Thielman |first=Sam |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=November 9, 2016}}</ref> Otherwise, all his work was done by hand. "I'm working on a hard, flat board&nbsp;... I cannot fold it. That's why my planning has to be so correct." In 2008, Jaffee told one newspaper, "I never see the finished painting folded until it's printed in the magazine. I guess I have that kind of visual mind where I can see the two sides without actually putting them together."<ref>{{cite news|author=John Black |url=http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080628/LIFE/806280303 |title=The Mad World of Al Jaffee |publisher=CapeCodOnline.com |date=June 28, 2008 |access-date=October 14, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702000445/http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080628%2FLIFE%2F806280303 |archive-date=July 2, 2008}}</ref> Contrasting current art techniques and Jaffee's approach, ''Mad''{{'}}s art director, [[Sam Viviano]], said, "I think part of the brilliance of the Fold-In is lost on the younger generations who are so used to [[Adobe Photoshop|Photoshop]] and being able to do stuff like that on a computer."<ref name=neil />