Roger Moore

And it all began here, with Roger Moore's first film as James Bond - Live and Let Die - showing up as the last chapter in "8 'James Bomb' Bomb Movies: A MAD Retrospect With No Respect." The sprawling Arnie Kogen-Mort Drucker collection of mini-spoofs, which also zinged Sean Connery's original six 007 appearances and the solo slot for George Lazenby (who?), originally ran in MAD #165 (March '74).

The first time I ever saw a James Bond movie, it was at the age of five (with my parents and my two-year-old sister) at a drive-in theatre in the eastern Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. Since the only thing my young mind retained from that screening of The Spy Who Loved Me is Carly Simon's opening song, I'm glad I had MAD to explain things to me as I got older. Written by Dick DeBartolo and illustrated by Mort Drucker, "The Spy Who Glubbed Me" originally ran in MAD #199.

Yes, even as we're bidding him goodbye today, this remains my single favourite MAD joke about Roger Moore. Artist Harry North and writer Stan Hart each delivered their only Bond spoofery for the Moonraker spoof "Moneyraker." Originally run in MAD #213 (March '80).

Still my favourite depiction of Roger Moore by Mort Drucker, nearly three decades after I read it for the first time. Several Moores populated the last two panels of the Arnie Kogen-penned For Your Eyes Only spoof "For Her Thighs Only." It originally ran in MAD #229 (March '82).

Roger Moore in the MAD spoof "MAD's Academy Awards Show", by Stan Hart and Mort Drucker.

Angelo Torres never illustrated a formal Bond parody for MAD, but he slipped Roger Moore into an opening-page montage for an 007 skewering that is still one of my favourite MAD articles of all time. "If James Bond Were 'Updated' For The Politically-Correct '90s," centering on Pierce Brosnan's Bond debut in 1995's Goldeneye, still stands out to me as writer Mike Snider's finest hour.

Roger Moore (centre) also joined fellow Bonds Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in another Desmond Devlin piece, "James Bond Villains' Pet Peeves." Illustrated by Drew Friedman, it originally ran in MAD #365 (January '98).

To show the diversity of MAD artists' approach to Roger Moore (and James Bond in general) over the years, I've posted these depictions in descending chronological order. Roger Moore joined his fellow former Bonds (including Pierce Brosnan, seated on the left) to assess Daniel Craig's performance in the ambitious Desmond Devlin-penned five-pager "Casebook Spyfail: The Battle of the Bonds." Beautifully illustrated by Tom Richmond, "Casebook Spyfail" originally ran in MAD #521 (June '13).

Roger Moore in "Moneyraker", the MAD movie parody of "Moonraker" by Stan Hart and Harry North reprinted in MAD Super Special #59