| Spy vs. Spy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author(s) |
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| Current status/schedule | Ended (as of 2022) |
| Launch date | Mad magazine #60 (Jan. 1961) |
| Publisher(s) | DC Entertainment |
| Genre(s) | Political satire Humor |
Spy vs. Spy is a wordless comic strip published in Mad magazine. It features two agents involved in stereotypical and comical espionage activities. 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 white pupils and black sclera. The pair are always at war with each other, using a variety of booby traps to 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 the Cold War, the strip was created by Cuban expatriate cartoonist Antonio Prohías, and debuted in Mad #60, dated January 1961.[1] Spy vs. Spy was last written and drawn by Peter Kuper.
The Spy vs. Spy characters have been featured in such media as video games and an animated television series, and in such merchandise as action figures and trading cards.
- ^ Carabas, Teodora (2007). "'Tales Calculated to Drive You MAD': The Debunking of Spies, Superheroes, and Cold War Rhetoric in Mad Magazine's 'SPY vs SPY'". The Journal of Popular Culture. 40 (1): 4–24. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00351.x.