Spy vs. Spy
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Spy vs. Spy is a wordless black and white comic that has been published in Mad magazine since 1961. The comic was created by Cuban Antonio Prohias, who fled to United States in 1960, just days before Fidel Castro took over the Cuban free press.
The comic features two spies, Black and White, who are constantly warring against each other. The typical plot is always the same: one spy is planning a scheme to kill the other spy, and then the other either turns the plan against him or comes up with a brilliant counterplan of his own. The title panel of the comic almost always features a one-panel gag presenting one spy besting the other; the main comic then uses the rest of the panels to tell a different short story with the other spy winning.
Sometimes the comic is called Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy and features a female spy, Lady in Gray, with whom both White and Black Spy are in love. The Lady in Gray ends up always winning against both spies.
Spy vs. Spy animated short cartoons and computer games have also been made. In 2004, PepsiCo licensed the characters for use in a series of television commercials for its Mountain Dew soft drink.
Spy vs. Spy is now drawn by Peter Kuper.
The "Spy vs. Spy" cartoon was symbolic of the Cold War, and was Prohias's comment on the futility of armed escalation and détente. Under the Spy vs. Spy title panel, the words "BY PROHIAS" are spelled out in Morse Code.
"Spy vs. Spy" has now entered the public lexicon to mean anything where two opponents are constantly trying to one-up each other.
External links
- Spy vs Spy Gallery (http://www.leedberg.com/mad/spies/spies.html)
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