Gillian Anderson

Over two decades later, I still laugh at "Agent Moldy's" willingness to dive into the sewer in the opening of MAD's official parody of the original TV incarnation of The X-Files. Angelo Torres' art for the Dick DeBartolo-penned "The Ecch-Files" originally ran in black and white in MAD #335 (June '95), but the recent "bookazine" MAD Spoofs The '90s gave the editors (and colorist Carl Peterson) the chance to splash a few new hues onto the alien-hunters.

Drew Friedman illustrated the first cover appearance for X-Files co-stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, and also provided the art for a three-page feature about the show that appeared in the same issue (MAD #358, June '97). In addition to providing the X-Files-themed cover for MAD #358 (June '97), Drew Friedman masterfully illustrated Mike Snider's three-page zinging of the series, "The Real Reasons Why The X-Files Is Totally Unbelievable."

Artist Timothy Shamey had two opportunities to showcase his caricatures of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in 1998 - via the Dick DeBartolo-penned movie spoof "The Ecch-Files: Fight This Feature" (seen here) and one of my favourite MAD articles of the '90s, "The Generation X-Files," written by Mike Snider for MAD #369 (May '98).

One of Roberto Parada's earliest MAD covers saw him blending The X-Files with American Gothic to billboard the magazine's parody of the franchise's first feature film, which ran inside MAD #374 (October '98).