Mel Gibson

One of Mel Gibson's earliest MAD appearances, as caricatured by Angelo Torres (along with Lethal Weapon co-star Danny Glover) for "Legal Wreckin'." Written by Dick DeBartolo, it originally ran in MAD #274 (October '87).

Viviano also caricatured Gibson for the Tequila Sunrise portion of the original "MAD's Video Reviews" (#289, September '89)

Danny Glover and Mel Gibson question Joe Pesci in this panel from "Lethal Wreckin' Too!" The Jack Davis-Dick DeBartolo parody originally ran in MAD #293 (March '90), which arrived on newsstands and in subscribers' mailboxes in the dying days of the '80s.

Sam Viviano caricatured Mel Gibson as Hamlet and Glenn Close as his mother (!) in this sequence from the fifth installment of the Stan Hart-written series "MAD's Video Reviews," which originally ran in MAD #304 (July '91).

Mort Drucker's first crack at the Lethal Weapon franchise saw him caricaturing newcomer Rene Russo in addition to Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Dick DeBartolo wrote the script for "Lethal Wreckin' 3," which originally ran in MAD #315 (December '92).

Sam Viviano caricatured Gibson for the Hart's parody of the 1996 kidnapped-child thriller Ransom, "Rancid" (#354, March '97), years before the MAD 20 color feature included earlier in this birthday tribute.

Originally running in MAD #382 (June '99), I found the four-page spoof of Payback to be one of Dick DeBartolo's tightest and strongest parodies of the entire '90s, with all kinds of wonderful MAD touches (including the constantly-changing dollar amount for the money owed Gibson's character).

A rare "non-Jack Syracuse" byline for Sam Viviano in the MAD 20 Dumbest list, with Mel Gibson as the target for the 2010 edition (MAD #507, February '11).