Fester Bestertester - Break With Mad

Break With Mad

In his last years of working with Mad, Martin had a falling out with publisher William Gaines over royalties for the paperback compilations of older Mad articles and cartoons released under new omnibus titles, such as The Self-Made Mad. Gaines insisted that Martin's original page rate was for both publication in Mad and all future reprints in any format. Martin objected, claiming at one point that he had likely lost over $1 million in royalties because of this "flat rate" for this work. Martin later testified before a Congressional subcommittee on the rights of freelance artists.

With bad blood flowing in both directions, Martin left Mad in late 1987. His last contribution appeared in issue #277 of March 1988 ("One Special Day in the Dungeon", written by Antonio Prohías). Soon afterwards, he began cartooning for the rival humor publication Cracked, which tweaked its larger competitor by billing Martin as "Cracked's Crackedest Artist." Martin's debut cover for Cracked was pointedly signed "©1988 D. Martin."

After six years with Cracked, Martin parted company with the magazine. A year later, he launched his own short-lived publication, Don Martin Magazine. This included reprints from some of his original Mad paperbacks to which he had retained copyrights. The first issue included an otherwise nonsensical Martin "interview" conducted by Martin himself, in which he said, "My agent thinks I was nuts to have worked there as long as I did," before expressing fondness for his time at Cracked. In 1991, Martin complained about Mad's chummy and tribal atmosphere to the Los Angeles Times, saying, "It's looked upon by the people there as a good thing, like one big family. I came to realize that it's only a good thing for Bill Gaines. I was so terribly loyal all those years that I turned down work because I had something for Mad Magazine—which is ridiculous."

From 1989 to 1993, Don Martin created a daily comic strip called The Nutheads, featuring a family that worked at "Glump's Market," a cluttered store. The characters included a mother and father, Hazel and Nutley, and their two children, Macadamia and baby Nutkin. It was briefly syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate; Martin later revived and self-syndicated the strip.

Despite a degenerative eye condition, Martin continued to draw into the 1990s using special magnifying equipment. In 2000, he died of cancer in Coconut Grove, Florida at age 68. A private, unassuming person, he delighted in having struggling cartoonists visit his home.