![]()
The Indemand ordering options here on Indiegogo have ended. If you want to order a copy, please visit this link!
CLAPTRAP is a hardcover, full color collection of twelve movie parodies by two longtime members of MAD Magazine's "Usual Gang of Idiots": Desmond Devlin and Tom Richmond. Plus other film related features and surprises!
We're talking some of the most watched, beloved and popular films of all time:
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Psycho
- Goodfellas
- The Big Lebowski
- Toy Story 4
- Unforgiven
- Blade Runner
- The Blues Brothers (*BACKERS' PICK!)
- The Princess Bride (*BACKERS' PICK!)
- Citizen Kane (*BACKERS' PICK!)
- Die Hard
CLAPTRAP is more than 100% funded and is guaranteed to be published! You can preorder a copy (or a copy plus some additional goodies) right here on this page!
Read on below for more details and sneak peeks of the book!
The Story
For sixty years, MAD Magazine’s illustrated movie and TV parodies provided smart and silly laughs in an appealing format that was widely imitated elsewhere, but never matched.
As time passed, those same parodies became valuable cultural snapshots that were enjoyed anew by nostalgic fans, who finally got all the jokes and references they missed as kids. And thanks to reprints, the classic humor was also experienced through the fresh eyes of new readers.
For many fans, part of the fun of watching a hot television show or an iconic movie was anticipating when and how their favorite artists and writers would give it the parody treatment! But circumstances have changed.
Unfortunately, MAD has published its last original parody. The magazine has switched its focus to reprinted material, and it will no longer create the defining full-length spoofs they made famous. This made us sad because these parodies are an enduring, one-of-a-kind form of American culture. This made us sad because we all grew up on those parodies. And mostly, it made us sad because they weren’t going to pay us anymore!
Who can ever forget all those classic parodies like “The Oddfather,” “Clod-umbo” or “201 Minutes of a Space Idiocy”? Well, we hope YOU’LL forget them, because we didn’t do those!
However, all the movies that we really DID parody have combined to sell over $21 billion in tickets. So just think: when you support our book project, you are guaranteed another $21 billion of entertainment. (Guarantee not guaranteed.)
Who Are We?
Artist Tom Richmond debuted in MAD in 2000, becoming its signature caricaturist in the years that followed, and is the winner of the National Cartoonists Society's prestigious 2011 Reuben Award for the year’s outstanding cartoonist.
Writer Desmond Devlin wrote his first MAD article in 1984 when he was a teenager, became its most prolific writer during his 36-year tenure, and knows the winner of the prestigious 2011 Reuben Award.
Over the years, these are just some of the many films and shows Desmond and Tom have teamed up to satirize:
- “Harry Potter”
- “Breaking Bad”
- “Stranger Things”
- “Star Wars”
- “The Hunger Games”
- “The Dark Knight”
- “The Hobbit”
- The James Bond series
- “Toy Story”
- “The Big Bang Theory”
- “The Sopranos”
- “The Avengers”
- Plus “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Christmas Story”!
And after twenty years, some felt we were THIS close to finally getting it right.
The Plan!
We’re going to keep making parodies because we want to keep reading them, too! In fact, we’re going to make enough new movie parodies to fill a book. Our book! And if you contribute, your book! The book is called CLAPTRAP !
Every book has to begin somewhere. And so, the FIRST movie we’re going to parody is…
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
After four decades of “Star Wars” parodies, it would be a crime against humor for the last “Star Wars” movie to be the ONLY “Star Wars” movie not to get its own spoof. There’s a comedy hole at the end of the saga, and we’re going to fill it!
Want to see what it’s called? Want to see how it starts?
![]()
That's just a sneak peek of the splash page... there's 7 more story pages after that! How about another one?
![]()
MAD never spoofed "The Shawshank Redemption"?!? Nope. But now we have! Want to see another splash page sneak peek, mother?...
![]()
What?!? Youse wanna see another sneak peek? Fuhgeddaboudit!
![]()
You think we're funny? Funny how, exactly? Do we amuse you?
Here's the full, wraparound cover!
![]()
Hey, you’re ALREADY reading our book! And you haven’t pledged yet? What does this website look like, you cheap crumb bums, a public library? (Unless you’re from a public library that wants to buy a copy of our book, in which case God bless you for the selfless service you provide each and every day.)
What Comes Next?
The first volume of CLAPTRAP (how’s THAT for unwarranted confidence?) will contain twelve original, full, never-before-published movie parodies. On slightly larger paper! It will also include additional comedic material from Tom and Des! Over 100 color pages, sturdy hardcover format, decent spelling — you’re getting the whole shebang!
For various reasons, many beloved films were never satirized when they originally came out. One of the best parodies we did together in MAD was of “A Christmas Story”… a mere 35 years after it appeared in theaters. It wasn’t a big hit then, but everybody knows it now. So we’re definitely going to stick it to a bunch of your favorite classic/cult movies that MAD missed at the time.
Untied We Stand!
By pledging, you are supporting every stage of this book’s creation, including upgraded spellchecking. The corporate infrastructure that made these kinds of parodies possible is no longer available, so we have to do it ourselves. Which means we need help from yourselves!
Just as importantly, you’re helping to keep the glorious parody format going, at a tough time for this kind of printed comedy. Either way, you’re stuck with us— we’re the only game in town! Nobody is doing this anymore, except the two sentimental dummies who are talking to you now.
Seriously, we’ve figured out how we can design and ship a really nice book to you. The two of us have already planned the project in detail, while leaving room for personal input from you, our sponsors. We’ve received quotes from our printer. And we’ve set a schedule. Our nearly dozens of fans know that we’ve both spent decades meeting strict deadlines on these kinds of features for MAD. You can back us with confidence.
This will work!
Your contribution says that keeping this unique tradition alive means as much to you as it does to us. We’ll be grateful for your support.
Let's Hear from the Creators
Desmond Devlin says:
“Ours is a collaboration in the truest sense. I deliver page after astonishing page of incendiary satire, and Todd’s garish drawings make a serviceable distraction for the illiterate.”
Tom Richmond says:
“I’m excited to return to this unique art form, where I attempt to fit my eye-catching art and razor-sharp caricatures within the small amount of space left in each panel after three-quarters of it is filled with a lot of unnecessary words. Writer Darren Delvin never uses one word when three will do."
__________________________________________________
UNLOCKED STRETCH GOALS:
![]()
Our STRETCH MARKS...uh... GOALS, ALL UNLOCKED!!
Stretch Goal #1: UNLOCKED!!
THANKS EVERYBODY! Now ALL BACKERS from the "Clod" level up will receive a specialty CLAPTRAP bookmark, designed in the Richmond style. Stick it in page 4 and think ahead to how much comedy lies ahead of you. Stick in in page 88, and think back on all the laughs you’ve had. Or stick it in your ear. It’s your bookmark, it’s your decision. Just don’t put it back in the book after it’s been in your ear. Yecch!
Stretch Goal #2: UNLOCKED!!!
WOW! Another furshlugginer stretch goal reached!!! THANKS EVERYBODY! Backers who’ve supported our top five tiers will be getting a unique sketch drawn into their books from Tom. Before YOU unlocked this stretch goal, it was Tom's choice of which character to draw. If Tom drew Chewbacca, but a Wookiee murdered your father, you'd just have to deal with the painful reminder. However, now that this goal is unlocked, all sketch backers will now get to choose exactly WHICH movie parody they want Tom to draw a character from!
Stretch Goal #3: UNLOCKED!!!!
YOU DID IT!! THANK YOU BACKERS!! Des and Tom will NOW write and draw an eleventh FULL movie parody for the book! Just for fun, Tom will write it and Des will draw it! On second thought...maybe that's not such a good idea. We'll announce WHICH movie it will be after the nomination and voting process on our 9th and 10th parody targets by our "Doofus" and higher backers. Thanks again, everybody!
![]()
Stretch Goal #4: UNLOCKED!!! Thank you backers! We are now going to ADD SIX PARODY MOVIE POSTERS to the book! These will NOT be posters for any of the movies we’re already spoofing, like “Psycho” or “Blade Runner” or “Toy Story 4.” They will be standalone productions in their own right.
Stretch Goal #5: UNLOCKED!!! That's IT! Our incredible furshlugginer backers have done it! Des and Tom will be adding a 12th AND FINAL EXTRA MOVIE PARODY in the book! AND our voting supporters will get their THIRD and LAST chance to choose which movie we do! Potrzebie!