Spy vs. Spy

For other uses, seeSpy vs. Spy (disambiguation).

Spy vs. Spy
Author(s)	Antonio Prohías (1961–1987) Duck Edwing (1987–2000; 2002) Bob Clarke (1987–1993) George Woodbridge (1993) Dave Manak (1993–1997; 2002) Peter Kuper (in full color: 1997–2021, one-off in 2022)
Current status/schedule	Ended (as of 2022)
Launch date	Madmagazine#60 (Jan. 1961)
Publisher(s)	DC Entertainment
Genre(s)	Political satire Humor

Spy vs. Spyis awordlesscomic strip published inMadmagazine. It features two agents involved in stereotypical and comicalespionageactivities. One is dressed in white, and the other in black, but they are otherwise identical, and are particularly known for their long, beaklike heads and their whitepupilsand blacksclera.The pair are always at war with each other, using a variety ofbooby trapsto inflict harm on the other. The spies usually alternate between victory and defeat (sometimes both win and both lose) with each new strip. A parody of the political ideologies of theCold War,the strip was created by CubanexpatriatecartoonistAntonio Prohías,and debuted inMad#60, dated January 1961.Spy vs. Spyis currently written and drawn byPeter Kuper.

TheSpy vs. Spycharacters have been featured in such media as video games and an animated television series, and in such merchandise asaction figuresandtrading cards.

Publication history

Antonio Prohías was a prolificcartoonistin Cuba known forpolitical satire.He fled to the United States on May 1, 1960, three days beforeFidel Castro's government nationalized the last of the Cubanfree press.Prohías sought work in his profession and traveled to the offices ofMadmagazine in New York City on July 12, 1960, with the strips, which he said he had created specifically for the magazine.After an initial rejection but ultimately a successful showing of his work and a prototype cartoon forSpy vs. Spy,Prohías was hired.

Prohías cryptically signed each strip on its first panel with a sequence ofMorse codecharacters that spell "BY PROHIAS". In a 1983 interview with theMiami Herald,Prohías reflected on the success ofSpy vs. Spy,stating, "The sweetest revenge has been to turn Fidel's accusation of me as a spy into a moneymaking venture."Prohías was censored byMadmagazine publisherWilliam Gaineson at least one occasion: the strip that eventually appeared inMadmagazine #84 (January 1964) was altered to remove scenes where the spies drink and smoke (Gaines had a stronganti-smokingstance).

Prohías evolved his drawing style over the years, making the spies' heads proportionately larger by 1964. In 1965, he began to experiment with not drawing frames on the spies' shades, and this became a consistent trait from late 1966 on, so that the characters' eyesappearedto have nosclera—just very large pupils, all black except for reflective glints. But when a spy was caught in an explosion, sometimes his fully drawn shades would fly along with other items such as hats, boots, and dentures. In the 1980s, overhanging lips were common.

Prohías completed a total of 241Spy vs. Spystrips forMadmagazine, the last one appearing in #269 (March 1987).After that he drew gag strips for the titles (such as one involving radioactive waste in #287) and wrote several stories for Clarke or Manak to draw, with his last such contribution in #337 (July 1995).

The strips continued, with writerDuck Edwingand artistBob Clarkecreating the majority. Their strips are identifiable by Clarke's drawing style, but signed "'C/e", or "'C/p" in the Prohías-written cases. Some were largely uncredited, simply being signed "M&S" (Mad#335) or "M&e" (Mad#352).

Peter Kupertook over as the full-time writer and artist for the strip withMadmagazine #356 (April 1997). In 2001, Kuper began drawing it in full color when the magazine made its switch from black and white art. WithMadreverting to a reprint format, Kuper's second-to-last Spy strip appeared in issue #18 (the magazine had moved toBurbank, Californiain 2018, adopting new numbering starting with #1). That Spy cartoon was three pages long, and showed the spies progressing through millennia: evolving from the sea, as Greek pottery, as dueling knights, and ultimately as the only two survivors of a nuclear holocaust that they had caused. They agree to stop fighting, and walk off together arm-in-arm into the shattered ruins of civilization. He returned in 2022 for the 70th Anniversary issue -- issue #28, which he confirmed would be the last time he would be drawing the strip.

Characters

Cosplay,Comikaze Expo 2011

Black Spy and White Spy(or "Man in Black" and "Man in White" ) – Wearing wide-brimmed hats and dressed inovercoats,both Spies have long pointed faces. They are identical, except for one being entirely in white and one entirely in black. The Spies were modeled afterEl Hombre Siniestro( "The Sinister Man" ), a character Prohías created in the Cuban magazineBohemiain 1956.Like the Spies, he wore a wide-brimmed hat and overcoat and had a long, pointed nose. Prohías described the character as someone who "thought nothing of chopping the tails off of dogs, or even the legs off of little girls" and stated he was "born out of the national psychosis of the Cuban people."'El Hombre Siniestro bore a strong resemblance to the Spies—although, instead of fighting against a set rival, he simply does horrible things to anyone he can find.

The cover copy ofThe All New Mad Secret File on Spy vs. Spyprovides early insight to the characters and Prohías' views on the Castro regime and theCIA:

You are about to meet Black Spy and White Spy – the two MADdest spies in the whole world. Their antics are almost as funny as the CIA's.... When it comes tointrigue, these guys make itway outtrigue. They are the only two spies we know who haven't the sense to come in out of the cold. But they have a ball – mainly trying to outwit each other.

A gag panel inMadmagazine #122 (Oct. 1968) established Black Spy as a member of the "East." He gets trapped by a White Spy, who is guarding the border to the "West." There is otherwise no indication in the series that Black Spy is pro-communist or White Spy is pro-capitalist.

Grey Spy(or "Woman in Grey" ) – She debuted inMadmagazine #73 (Sept. 1962) (the strip was temporarily renamedSpy vs. Spy vs. Spy). Grey Spy's appearances are sporadic, but she always triumphs by using the infatuations of Black Spy and White Spy to her advantage. Prohías explained, "The lady Spy represented neutrality. She would decide on White Spy or Black Spy, and she also added some balance and variety to the basic 'Spy vs. Spy' formula."Grey Spy's last appearance under Prohías wasMadmagazine #99 (Dec. 1965); she did not appear again until 1988, afterBob ClarkeandDuck Edwingtook over the strip. Peter Kuper also used her occasionally.

Leaders– They are thebarrel-chested,medal-decorated bosses of Black Spy and White Spy, who give them tasks and punish them for their failures. The Leaders were phased out when Peter Kuper took over writing and illustrating the strip.

Spin-offs

• ASunday stripseries (39 in total) was released weekly from April 7 to Dec 29, 2002;2014 in the MAD news, syndicated byTribune Media Servicesand featuring Duck Edwing and Dave Manak returning as writer and artist respectively.
• A series of thirteen strips (plus a flip-book) titledSpy vs. Spy Jr.were published inMad Kidsmagazine from 2005 to 2009. It depicts the three Spies as children, playing harmless practical jokes on each other. It appeared in everyMad Kidsissue.

Other media

See also:Spy vs. Spy (1984 video game)andSpy vs. Spy (2005 video game)

White Spy as seen in a 2004Mountain Dewtelevision commercial.

• Video games based on the strip have been released for theZX Spectrum,Commodore 64,Atari 8-bit computers,Nintendo Entertainment System,Master System,Game Boy,andApple II.In 1997GT Interactiveannounced that it would publish a "Spy vs. Spy" game for the PC in early 1998,but it was cancelled.
• A "Spy vs. Spy"board gamewas released byMilton Bradleyin 1986.
• Animated segments ofSpy vs. Spyappear in the unaired 1974Mad Magazine Television Special,and in the first five seasons ofMad TV(1995 until 2000) with animation byRough Draft Studios.
• In 2004, the characters were featured in television commercials for the soft drinkMountain Dew.
• "Spy vs. Spy" was a skit in every episode ofCartoon Network's animated seriesMad.It ran from September 6, 2010 – December 2, 2013 (there is one skit per episode; in total, there are 103 short skits in 103 episodes), including themed skits depending on the time the episode first aired (i.e. a Christmas or Halloween theme). In the first season, the skits were drawn in styles based on the illustrations by Prohías and Clarke; the second season introduced a new three-dimensional stop-motion animation style - these skits were animated byStoopid Buddy Stoodios(the team behindRobot Chicken). For the remaining two seasons of the show, the shorts were produced exclusively in stop-motion. The sketches follow the style of the comic, with one spy being outwitted by the other, and many of them adapted actual installments of the comic, like theMad TVshorts. Both spies claimed victory 51 times each, and one of their feuds resulted in a draw.
  • In addition, the aforementionedRobot ChickenspoofedSpy vs. Spytwice. In the Season 2 episode "Password: Swordfish", a skit based around the aforementioned Mountain Dew ads sees White Spy attempting to trounce his adversary by hiding a spring-loaded boxing glove in a soda vending machine, only for Black Spy to simply approach him from behind, shoot him dead, and steal his top-secret plans, rather than using a more elaborate counter-plot as seen in the comic strips. The Season 7 episode "Panthropologie" features a short sketch where Black Spy enacts testicular torture on White Spy, a laCasino Royale.
• The characters made an appearance on an episode ofFamily Guy,"Spies Reminiscent of Us",wherein White Spy revealed at the headquarters ofChevy ChaseandDan Aykroydthat they had settled their differences and started a romantic relationship. White Spy was voiced byFamily Guyseries creatorSeth MacFarlane.
• There is a planned film adaptation that was originally meant to haveRon Howardto direct back in 2011 from a screenplay by John Kamps andBrian GrazerandDavid Koeppwere set to produce but was scrapped.It now hasRawson Marshall Thurberdirecting and writing the screenplay.
• In the 1938Warner Bros.Looney TunescartoonPorky in Wackyland(directed byBob Clampett) and its 1949 color remake "Dough for the Do-Do"(directed byFriz Freleng), theDodobird inspired an animation style similar to theSpy vs. Spycharacters.

Bibliography

• The All New Mad Secret File on Spy vs. Spy(Signet,1965) – reprinted by Warner Books in 1971, andWatson-Guptillin 2009
• Spy vs. Spy Follow Up File(Signet, 1968) – reprinted by Warner Books in 1971, and Watson-Guptill in 2009
• The Third Mad Dossier of Spy vs. Spy(Warner Books, 1972)
• The Fourth Mad Declassified Papers on Spy vs. Spy(Warner Books, 1974) – reprinted by Watson-Guptill, 2009
• The Fifth Mad Report on Spy vs. Spy(Warner Books, 1978)
• Mad's Big Book of Spy vs. Spy Capers and Other Surprises(Warner Books, 1978)
• The Sixth Mad Case Book on Spy vs. Spy(Warner Books, 1982)
• Prohías' Spy vs. Spy: The Updated Files(Warner Books, 1989)
• Spy vs. Spy: The Updated Files #8(Warner Books, 1993)
• Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook(Watson-Guptill, 2001) – reprinted by DC Comics, 2011
• Spy vs. Spy: The Joke and Dagger Files(Watson-Guptill, 2007)
• Spy vs. Spy: An Explosive Celebration(Liberty Street, 2015)
• Spy Vs. Spy: The Big Blast(Time Inc. Books, 2016)

Spin-offs

• Amazingly Stupid MAD(MAD Cartoon Network, 2013)
• Spy vs. Spy: Casebook of Craziness(MAD Cartoon Network, 2014)

External links

Media related toSpy vs. Spyat Wikimedia Commons

• Spy vs. SpyatDon Markstein's Toonopedia.Archivedfrom the original on September 14, 2017.