There aren’t enough days in a lifetime to share with you all the artists that have inspired me at one time or another, but from time to time, I’ll be turning my drawing table lamp to spotlight an artist you might like if you enjoy my work.
Some of these artists are friends, others are heroes, some are (bafflingly) both. Some are well-known, while others are just starting out in their careers. I hope you enjoy their work as much as I do.
Today’s spotlight is very special to me. He is my favourite living cartoonist. I’ve been reading his work my entire life, and I’ve been writing this piece for a long time, and adding to it as I go. I’ve been meaning to hit ‘publish’ for a while, but the guy keeps DOING things that I want to include…
I think it’s especially pertinent that I share the story of a fellow US immigrant who came to the US from his home country to try and make it as a cartoonist, and completely overshot his goal to become one of the greatest of all time. I have bottomless admiration for him both as an artist and as a person. I hope you enjoy.
My favourite living cartoonist.
If you’ve ever opened a copy of MAD Magazine and found yourself laughing at the tiny doodles crammed into every available margin, then you’ve experienced the boundless genius of Sergio Aragonés. It’s not hyperbole to say that Sergio is quite possibly the most prolific cartoonist who ever lived, and certainly one of the most beloved. For over sixty years, he’s been the secret sauce that makes MAD feel alive on every page.
Born in Sant Mateu, Castellón, Spain, Aragonés emigrated with his family to France due to the Spanish Civil War, before settling in Mexico at age 6. Aragonés had a passion for art since early childhood. As one anecdote goes, Aragonés was once left alone in a room by his parents with a box of crayons. His parents returned sometime later to find that he had covered the wall in hundreds upon hundreds of drawings.
The legend they call “the world’s fastest cartoonist” arrived in New York City in 1962 with exactly twenty dollars in his pocket and a portfolio bulging with cartoons. He’d left his architecture studies in Mexico behind, determined to break into American comics, but the reality of Manhattan was harsher than he’d imagined. Work was scarce, and what little he could sell barely paid the rent, forcing him to take odd jobs—including performing as a singer and poet in the bohemian restaurants of Greenwich Village. He once told me he could barely play the guitar, and didn’t know the lyrics to many songs, so he just made up words that sounded exotic in Spanish, and the diners in the restaurant were none the wiser. The owner would let him sleep in the back of the restaurant, as at that time, he had nowhere to stay.
Picture this: a young Mexican cartoonist with an extravagant moustache, speaking English as his third language, wandering the streets of New York with dreams 100x bigger than his bank account. He found himself at a party in the West Village where he didn’t know anybody, much less understand them. He didn’t speak English. That’s where he bumped into the legendary New Yorker cartoonist Mort Gerberg, who spoke enough Spanish to strike up a friendship with Sergio and give him a few pointers as to how to get a foot in the door in the cartooning world.
L-R MAD writer Dick DeBartolo, Mort Gerberg and MAD Art Director Sam Viviano
When he finally worked up the courage to visit MAD’s offices on Third Avenue, he was convinced his work didn’t belong there. “I didn’t think I had anything that belonged in MAD,” he later admitted. But the cartooning gods had other plans…
What happened next is the stuff of cartooning legend.
The editors at MAD saw something special in Sergio’s astronaut cartoons and arranged them into a themed article. From that moment on, a new section of MAD was born—the margins themselves became Sergio’s canvas. Apart from one issue he missed due to the flu and a postal mix-up, he has appeared in every single issue since, generally contributing 8-10 marginal cartoons per issue across 442 issues and counting. (He made his first professional cartoon sale 71 years ago!)
won’t mind me sharing a recollection he wrote about the “Drawn Out Dramas” marginal cartoons origin story:
Sergio once told me the origin of his “Drawn Out Dramas”. When he first started working for MAD editor Al Feldstein and publisher Bill Gaines loved his work but they didn’t know how many jobs they could give him.
Sergio was desperate for as much work as he could get, being newly arrived in the US and not knowing anyone. Back in the early days of the magazine version of MAD, they used to put typed out jokes, gags, or goofy quotes in the margins of the magazine just to help fill the space, calling it “Marginal Thinking”. Sergio suggested to Feldstein and Gaines that he could draw little gag cartoons instead, designed to work horizontally, vertically or even around the corners for that space, and he did it by making a dummy copy of MAD and drawing them in to show them.
They liked the idea and the work but didn’t think he could keep up doing 10-16 gags every issue like that. However they gave him the chance to submit marginal cartoons and if they liked them they’d buy and run them in the margins. 60 years later he’s done approximately 10,000 or so of them, only missing one issue (#111) since 1963 thanks to the post office losing his mailed submissions.
But Sergio’s genius isn’t just in his speed or his prolific output—it’s in his mastery of visual storytelling without words. His pictures provoke laughter all on their own. In a world where comedy often relies on cultural references or wordplay, Sergio creates universal humour that transcends language barriers. His pantomime training under Alejandro Jodorowsky in Mexico taught him that the human condition is funny everywhere, in every culture.
This VERY old gag is more pertinent than ever…
I’m constantly amazed by his creative process. In his 1989 interview with The Comics Journal, Sergio revealed the beautiful chaos behind his art: “When I was a kid, my drawings were not orderly. In one sheet, I would tell a whole story, but it wasn’t in order. I’d be drawing on top of a drawing on top of a drawing—all over.” That same anarchic energy still flows through his margins today, creating dense little worlds where anything can happen.
His path to becoming “the fastest cartoonist” (or as Australian TV Host Ray Martin once called him, the “Fartest” cartoonist in the world) started early. In architecture school, he’d arrive each morning to create a giant mural newspaper filled with cartoons about campus life, finishing the entire board with magic markers in just half an hour so he wouldn’t miss class. The students would literally steal these drawings off the wall, forcing the school to give him a special glass case.
Most inspiring about Sergio is his complete dedication to the craft of making people laugh. When MAD moved to purely digital production, when the industry changed around him, and when other cartoonists might have thrown their hands up and retired, Sergio kept drawing. At 85 years old, he’s still at the drawing board, still part of MAD’s “Usual gang of idiots” after six decades.
The King of Comic Con — a regular fixture since day one!
Earlier this month, the “usual gang” in New York got together to see Tom Richmond. It was Sergio’s birthday, so long-time MAD Art Director, Sam Viviano, pulled out his phone and Facetimed Sergio, who was back at his drawing board in Ojai. We all got to wish him a happy birthday (Feliz Cumpleaños!).
L-R, Michael MacParlane, Idiot Boy Chatfield, Sam Viviano, Ray Alma, Tom Richmond, Des Devlin, Charlie Kadoo
He said he was so lucky not only to have great friends, but to be able to still do the thing he loved the most— drawing, and making people laugh. He said it was the biggest blessing he could ever hope for.
Beyond MAD, Sergio created the legendary Groo the Wanderer with scripter Mark Evanier—a hilariously incompetent barbarian who became one of the longest-running creator-owned comics in history. He worked on Bat Lash at DC, contributed to countless anthologies, and even found time to appear on Laugh-In and other TV shows. The man seems incapable of saying no to a creative challenge.
Sergio has won every major award in cartooning, including the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award. But what strikes me most about him isn’t his trophy case—it’s his boundless enthusiasm for the art form. Every interview I’ve read captures the same infectious joy, the same love for the simple act of putting pen to paper and making someone smile.
The day Sam Viviano introduced me to Sergio was a very special moment in my career. He was, as anyone who has met him will attest, the most charming man in the world. He was so welcoming, friendly, and boundlessly interested in anyone but himself.
L-R: Anton Emdin, Idiot Boy, Sergio, Sam Viviano
In an industry that can sometimes take itself too seriously, Sergio reminds us why we fell in love with cartoons in the first place. His margins aren’t just filler—they’re tiny windows into a world where logic takes a holiday and laughter reigns supreme.
If you’ve never experienced Sergio’s work beyond those MAD margins, I’d highly recommend tracking down “MAD’s Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragonés” or any collection of Groo. But honestly, just flip through any issue of MAD and let your eye wander to the edges. That’s where the real magic happens—in those cramped corners where Sergio has been quietly revolutionising comedy, one tiny gag at a time.
He also happens to be a brilliant storyteller in person. His account of killing Marty Feldman (allegedly) is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard in my life. I was crying laughing at his accounting of the incident to his fellow cartoonists in Memphis one year.
I had the privilege of witnessing one of the most touching moments in Sergio’s career at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in 2017. The National Cartoonists Society had established the Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art in partnership with LICAF, and Sergio himself was there to present the very first award to Dave McKean.
Watching this legendary cartoonist—who had influenced generations of artists—honour another master of visual storytelling was genuinely moving. The award has since become one of the most prestigious recognitions in international comics, with subsequent winners including Hunt Emerson, Charlie Adlard, Boulet, Posy Simmonds, and VIZ comics. But there was something magical about that inaugural moment in Kendal, seeing Sergio’s genuine joy in celebrating another artist’s work before Dave jumped up and gave Sergio a big hug.
Signing next to Sergio at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in the UK
My attempt at a Sergio cartoon…
I consider it one of the great honours of my career that I even know Sergio, let alone that he even knows who I am. He’s a great inspiration for me as an artist and as a person. I can only ever dream of reaching his level of joy for what he does— and the resulting joy it brings so many people.
There’s something deeply comforting about knowing that somewhere in Ojai, Sergio is still hunched over his drawing board, still finding new ways to make us laugh, still proving that the best art comes from the margins.
Give his website a visit, and dig out your old copies of MAD to treat yourself to his work. It’ll do good things to your brain!
What a wonderful article written with admiration, love, , respect for your friend and fellow cartoonist. I love that cartoonists and comediennes have such a close knit group. We all need another realm we can escape to,, mine is all about dogs and fellow dog lovers.
What a wonderful article written with admiration, love, , respect for your friend and fellow cartoonist. I love that cartoonists and comediennes have such a close knit group. We all need another realm we can escape to,, mine is all about dogs and fellow dog lovers.
Fabulous ❣️ Thank you, Jason❣️🙏