Don Martin (May 18, 1931 – January 6, 2000) was an American cartoonist whose best-known work appeared in MAD from 1956 to 1988. Promoted as “MAD’s Maddest Artist,” Martin became a pop‑culture touchstone thanks to his hinged‑foot characters, bulbous noses, and a symphony of unforgettable sound effects—SHTOINK! PLORTCH! BREEDEET‑BREEDEET!—that turned slapstick into a musical language.
Infobox: Don Martin
| Born | May 18, 1931 — Paterson, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | January 6, 2000 (aged 68) — Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Cartoonist |
| Known for | MAD magazine cartoons; onomatopoetic humor; Captain Klutz |
| Notable works | MAD features and specials; The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz; The Nutheads (comic strip) |
| Years active | 1953–1999 |
| Awards | National Cartoonists Society Special Features Award (1981, 1982); Ignatz Award (1980) |
| Honors | Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame (2004) |
Early Years
Born in Paterson, New Jersey, and raised in Brookside and Morristown, Martin showed an early aptitude for humorous drawing, often entertaining classmates with caricatures. He studied illustration and fine art at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts (1949–1951), where he developed a foundation in both traditional and commercial art techniques, and then graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1952), honing skills in figure drawing, composition, and perspective.
After brief stints as a window trimmer and frame maker, he worked on paste‑ups and mechanicals for offset printing clients, gaining hands‑on knowledge of layout and production, and began freelancing as a cartoonist/illustrator for magazines and commercial clients. His first MAD contribution appeared in the September 1956 issue, marking the start of a three‑decade association.
Martin battled serious eye problems from his teenage years, undergoing two corneal transplants—in 1949 (age 18) and 1989. Following the first operation, his head had to remain immobilized for three days, stabilized by sandbags, a challenge that underscored his lifelong determination to continue creating despite physical setbacks.
Jazz Covers, Greeting Cards, and Early Illustration
Before his MAD breakthrough, Martin built a reputation as a skilled commercial illustrator. He created a series of distinctive, stylized album covers for Prestige Records, including Miles Davis and Horns (1956), The Art Farmer Septet, Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding’s Trombone by Three, and Stan Getz’s The Brothers—all of which have remained in circulation for decades and are now regarded as iconic examples of mid‑century jazz design.
His visual approach combined bold, playful compositions with clean lines and exaggerated forms, hinting at the humor and dynamism that would later define his MAD work. Beyond record sleeves, Martin designed greeting cards, produced editorial spot illustrations, and contributed artwork to both jazz periodicals and science fiction magazines, demonstrating his versatility across genres and audiences.
Career with MAD
Martin arrived at MAD in 1956 with a portfolio of meticulously detailed drawings, reflecting his early fine‑arts training. Editors quickly encouraged him to loosen up—a suggestion that liberated his linework into the springy, elastic style that became his trademark. His pages appeared under the unembellished banner “Don Martin Dept.” rather than a pun‑filled “department” heading; his reputation alone was considered sufficient fanfare.
At his creative zenith, Martin routinely delivered three one‑ or two‑page strips per issue, augmented by extended features: whimsical poem parodies (Longfellow, Coleridge, Guest, Moore), themed gag suites (Moses, superheroes, Dracula), and full‑scale pop‑culture send‑ups like Gentle Ben, Excalibur, and Conan the Barbarian. He also designed stickers, posters, faux advertisements, and fold‑out bonuses for MAD Specials, further expanding his visual universe.
Martin’s strips often carried deceptively bland titles—A Quiet Day in the Park, One Afternoon at the Beach—concealing the gleeful defiance of physics, anatomy, and logic within. Standout gags include “The Impressionist,” in which a bull smears a plein‑air painter across a canvas as a literal “abstract,” and “One Night in the Miami Bus Terminal,” where a Change machine transforms a man into a woman. In another reader‑favorite, a steamroller‑flattened pedestrian is refolded into a paper airplane and airmailed to the nearest hospital—an encapsulation of Martin’s surreal blend of violence, absurdity, and cartoon physics.
Style and Technique
Martin’s drawing evolved from early scratchy lines—influenced by his fine‑arts background and early commercial illustration—to the rounded, elastic look that crystallized by 1964: characters with sleepy, heavy‑lidded eyes, wiry hair puffs sprouting like antennae, and the signature hinged feet that bent sharply at right angles. His figures were constructed from stacked ovoids, giving them a tottering, comical balance perfect for slapstick distortion. The punchline was often delivered with a deadpan stare—half‑lidded eyes, a tiny “o” of a mouth frozen in understated bewilderment—an acting choice that contrasted sharply with the wild chaos of the preceding panels, heightening the humor.
The Logic of Sound Effects
His onomatopoeia wasn’t random letter soup; it was engineered with precision and comedic intent. A crowbar to the skull, for example, required a metallic “PWANG/SPWANG,” evoking both the clang of metal and the resonance of bone, not a generic “groink” (which he jokingly assigned to the act of yanking someone’s nose several inches forward).
Martin treated each effect as a mini acoustic performance—its spelling dictated by physical logic: weight, texture, and the nature of the impact. In his hands, the sound became a gag of its own, an extra punchline layered onto the visual. His commitment to the craft was so complete that he even sported a vanity plate reading “SHTOINK”, a signature effect that became synonymous with his name.
Names, Runners, and Absurdism
Recurring names amplified the silliness—Fester Bestertester, Lance Parkertip, Noted Notary Public, and especially Fonebone (later echoed by Jeff Smith’s Fone Bone in Bone)—each name crafted for its comic rhythm and absurd specificity. These monikers often reappeared across multiple strips, creating a playful sense of an interconnected, off‑kilter Martin universe. The “National Gorilla Suit Day” epic pushed his absurdism to a crescendo: a hapless hero is relentlessly battered by foes in—and out of—gorilla suits, with escalating, surreal twists including gorillas disguised as people, people disguised as gorillas, and even gorillas disguised as gorillas, all punctuated by a barrage of inventive sound effects.
Books, Paperbacks, and Captain Klutz
Alongside his MAD output, Martin (with various writers) produced a long‑running series of paperback originals, notably The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz (1967) and numerous Don Martin gag anthologies, each packed with brand‑new material. Crucially, Martin retained the copyrights to these paperbacks, giving him rare creative control and long‑term ownership in an era when most cartoonists signed away their rights. Because of this, much of the paperback content was excluded from 2007’s Completely MAD Don Martin box set, making the originals prized collectibles among fans.
Martin described the paperbacks as intense creative sprints: once roughs were approved, he’d lock into seven‑day weeks for months, often working 12–14 hours a day. He organized production in batches of 15–20 pages, building momentum while avoiding interruptions, and maintained meticulous records of how long penciling and inking took for each section. The process was grueling but rewarding, allowing him to experiment with longer narratives, recurring characters, and elaborate visual gags that went beyond the constraints of MAD’s magazine format.
Friction with MAD and Post‑MAD Work
In the late 1980s, Martin disputed royalties for reprints in MAD paperbacks and omnibus collections. Publisher William Gaines maintained that Martin’s original page rate covered all future formats; Martin argued he’d forfeited substantial income and later testified before Congress on freelance creators’ rights. He left MAD in late 1987 (final piece: issue #277, March 1988).
Martin soon joined rival humor magazine Cracked, cheekily billed as its “Crackedest Artist.” After six years he moved on, launching Don Martin Magazine with reprints from his creator‑owned paperbacks and a droll self‑interview. He also created the syndicated daily strip The Nutheads (1989–1993), set around the chaotic Glump’s Market and starring Hazel, Nutley, Macadamia, and Nutkin. Despite a degenerative eye condition, Martin continued drawing through the 1990s with magnification aids.
Professional affiliations included the National Cartoonists Society and the Graphic Artists Guild (he resigned from GAG in 1997 after a dispute). He served as a juror at the Hürriyet Vakfı International Cartoon Competition (Ankara, 1986).
Personal Life and Death
A famously private figure, Martin sometimes substituted hand‑drawn masks for family photos in the press—transforming his reluctance to be photographed into an ongoing gag that mirrored his cartoon sensibilities. This playful approach to privacy extended to public appearances, where he often dodged formal portrait sessions or sent humorous self‑caricatures in lieu of headshots.
He married Norma Haimes (Martin) in 1979 after meeting her through mutual friends in Florida’s arts community, and the two shared a partnership marked by her support for his exacting creative routines and frequent late‑night drawing marathons. They remained together until his death. Martin died of cancer on January 6, 2000, in Coconut Grove/Miami, Florida, aged 68, after a period of declining health during which he continued to produce drawings despite treatment.
Awards and Honors
- Ignatz Award (Orlando Comicon), 1980
- National Cartoonists Society — Special Features Award, 1981, 1982
- Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame, 2004
His cartoons appear in public collections including the National Cartoonists Society and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
Influence and Legacy
Martin’s DNA is everywhere: The Simpsons, Family Guy, MADtv, and Cartoon Network’s MAD have riffed on his timing and visual logic. Futurama nodded to his lexicon with the planet “Don Martin 3” that went “kerflooey.” Mystery Science Theater 3000 cracked jokes about props screaming “KACHOW.” Novelist Jonathan Lethem gave his Motherless Brooklyn protagonist a Martin fixation; Jeff Smith’s Fone Bone name tips the cap to Fonebone; and fans annually mark National Gorilla Suit Day on January 31—a tradition inspired by Martin’s 1963 paperback Don Martin Bounces Back.
Internationally, the animated feature Don Martin Does It Again (Germany, 1986; dir. Andy Knight; prod. Gerhard Hahn) won first prize at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (1986), cementing his cross‑border appeal.
In 2007, Running Press published a two‑volume hardcover box set of Martin’s complete MAD work, bringing his magazine pages into a single, archival collection.
Selected Bibliography (Paperbacks)
- Don Martin Steps Out (1962)
- Don Martin Bounces Back (1963)
- Don Martin Drops 13 Stories (1965)
- The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz (1967)
- Don Martin Cooks Up More Tales (1969)
- Don Martin Comes on Strong (1971)
- Don Martin Carries On (1973)
- The Completely Mad Don Martin (1974)
- Don Martin Steps Further Out (1975)
- Don Martin Forges Ahead (1977)
- Don Martin Digs Deeper (1979)
- Don Martin Grinds Ahead (1981)
- Captain Klutz II (1983)
- Don Martin Sails Ahead (1986)
Timeline (Selected)
- 1931 — Born in Paterson, NJ; raised in Brookside and Morristown
- 1949–1951 — Newark School of Fine & Industrial Arts
- 1952 — Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (grad.)
- 1953–1955 — Commercial art, paste‑ups/mechanicals; album covers for Prestige
- 1956 — First MAD appearance (Sept.)
- 1963–1974 — Prolific paperback period (incl. Captain Klutz)
- 1981–1982 — NCS Special Features Awards
- 1987/1988 — Leaves MAD; last piece issue #277
- 1988–1993 — Cracked run; launches The Nutheads
- 2000 — Dies in Florida, age 68
- 2004 — Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame
