'Villains Awaiting Batman's Return to TV' (Mad #298. 1990), starring comedian Jackie Mason as the villain.
Rick Tulka is an American caricaturist and illustrator, known for his grotesque celebrity portraits and hilarious, vivid exaggerations of people's behavior. Among general audiences, he is most recognizable as a regular contributor to Mad Magazine between 1988 and 2019. Tulka often livened up Mad's humorous articles with great visual comedy and hilarious caricatures, among others for his long-running series 'Chilling Thoughts For The Future' (1996-2017) and 'Six Degrees of Separation' (1997-2014). He has contributed to many books and magazines and is a prolific sketch artist.
Early life and career
Richard Tulka was born in 1955 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up reading Archie Comics and Mad Magazine. Among his graphic influences are painters Honoré Daumier, Edgar Degas, Hans Holbein the Elder, Norman Rockwell, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh, caricaturists and editorial cartoonists Al Hirschfeld, David Levine, Ben Sargent and comic artists Mort Drucker, Hergé, Winsor McCay, Charles M. Schulz, Bill Watterson and George Woodbridge. Later in life, he also expressed admiration for Hermann Mejia.
Tulka studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and the Art Students League of New York, after which he majored in illustration at Pratt Institute. Back then, the Pratt Institute had a program titled 'University Without Walls', where students could create their own projects and work on their own, with an evaluation by a mentor at the end of the semester. Tulka was pleased with this program, since it allowed him to work more in caricature and humorous illustrations. One of his mentors was actually the famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist David Levine, who taught Tulka to improve his art by copying classic painters. He strongly advised him to go to The Metropolitan Museum and study by looking at the original paintings, rather than images in art books. During a summer semester (1975), Tulka first went to a little village outside of Nimes, Southern France, spending weekends in Paris. In 1976, he became a professional illustrator and sold his first drawings to Cue Magazine.
'Moonwalker' coloring book.
Moonwalker coloring book
In 1988, Tulka was asked to provide drawings to a coloring book based on Michael Jackson's direct-to-video film 'Moonwalker' (a movie with production design by Mike Ploog). The coloring book project took about a year to see the light, because the King of Pop had a busy schedule and couldn't find time to take a look at Tulka's work. After receiving free tickets to one of his concerts in New Jersey, Tulka met the pop icon backstage. Jackson was amused by his graphical portrayal and greenlighted its publication by Methuen. Around the same time, Blackthorne Publishing also released an actual 3-D comic book based on 'Moonwalker', illustrated by Abel Laxamana, but this unfortunately flopped. Despite having directly worked for Michael Jackson, it didn't stop Tulka from later caricaturing and satirizing the pop star in magazines like Mad.
'Six Degrees of Separation' (Mad #472, December 2006).
Mad Magazine
Tulka debuted in Mad Magazine in issue #282 (October 1988). While he collaborated with many different writers and artists, his most regular creative partner was Mike Snider. Contrary to the other "usual gang of idiots", Tulka never illustrated a cover for Mad. However, he did liven up the borders of two covers with small caricatures, namely issue #357 (May 1997) and #365 (January 1998). Likewise, he also never drew film or TV show parodies, nor fake advertisements. The closest exception was a spoof of the medical TV soap 'E.R.' (issue #376, December 1998), scripted by Mike Snider, but even this wasn't a comic strip, but more an illustrated article. A few Mad issues later, actor Anthony Edwards (Dr. Mark Green in 'E.R.') was photographed holding the 'E.R.' parody issue.
Throughout his time at Mad, Tulka was usually commissioned to show off his gift for celebrity caricatures and hilarious facial expressions. One example was the "contest" Mad held in issue #469 (September 2006), asking readers which celebrity they'd most like to see get attacked by a bird flu-infected emu. Six issues later, the winner was announced: Paul McCartney's ex, Heather Mills, who was caricatured by Tulka.
Chilling Thoughts For The Future
Tulka's first notable series in Mad were a series of "future predictions" that originally didn't have a permanent title, but did share the same humorous concept. In the 1990s, many people were anticipating the upcoming 21st century. Scriptwriter Tom Koch wrote a series of satirical contemplations: 'Mad Reviews the 21st Century Ahead of Time' (issue #299, December 1990) and another, 'Why the 21st Century May Be Even Worse Than This One!' (issue #314, October 1992), both illustrated by Tulka. They looked at present-day celebrities and phenomena and wondered how they might evolve within the then-nearby future. It received a definitive title, 'Chilling Thoughts For The Future' in issue #345 (May 1996) with Desmond Devlin becoming the permanent scriptwriter and Tulka as the artist. The final episode ran in issue #364 (December 1997). In 2012, 'Chilling Thoughts' was revived, again with Devlin as writer, but with Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer as illustrators. The final two episodes were illustrated by Jonathan Edwards, before 'Chilling Thoughts' ended its frightening future predictions in issue #547 (October 2017).
Tulka also worked on other Mad articles which humorously compared past phenomena with present-day phenomena. One example was 'Mad Studies the First Day of School 30 Years Ago and Today' (issue #323, December 1993), scripted by Barry Liebmann, where the past example was illustrated by Dave Berg, while Tulka drew the more cynical, modern-day equivalent. Another example was 'The 60's and The 90's' (issue #356, April 1997), where Russ Cooper juxtaposed phenonema from the 1960s with equivalents from the 1990s.
Six Degrees of Separation
With Mike Snider, Tulka co-created their best known ongoing series, 'Six Degrees of Separation (Between Anyone and Anything)', which first saw light in Mad issue #363 (November 1997). The idea evolved from the observation that most people, especially in the entertainment industry, are far closer connected to one another than one might assume. Sometimes directly, other times indirectly. Snider and Tulka explored more absurd, far-fetched connections between celebrities, fictional characters, trends and social phenomena. Tulka visualized them in six successive cartoons each, usually four individual series spread over two pages. The series continued until October 2011. Afterwards, new episodes were written by Stan Sinberg and drawn by John Kerschbaum. The final episode of 'Six Degrees' ran in issue #528 (August 2014).
Spot Your Parents
With scriptwriter Jeff Kruse, Tulka was also responsible for the 'Spot Your Parents' feature (Mad issue #390, February 2000), in which parents deal with embarrassing situations such as divorce or explaining where babies come from? Readers are invited to see which of these reactions is most similar to their own father and/or mother. The series ran until issue #401 (January 2001).
Celebrity Cause-of-Death Betting Odds
Between Mad issue #514 (April 2012) and issue #529 (October 2014), Tulka was the final artist to draw the 'Celebrity Cause-of-Death Betting Odds' page for a while. Launched by scriptwriter Mike Snider in 1997, with Thomas Fluharty as artist, each episode depicts a tombstone carved in the shape of a celebrity. On the ground, various objects associated with him or her are scattered. On the tombstone itself, the most likely ways this specific media star might die are summarized, with rankings on how likely the chances are. Other cartoonists who illustrated the feature have been James Warhola, Hermann Mejia, Jon Weiman, Bob Staake, Sam Viviano, Sam Sisco and Jack Syracuse.
Celebrity reactions
In issue #327 (May 1994), Tulka illustrated a thorough parody of various Billy Joel songs, scripted by Frank Jacobs). Joel was later photographed with that very issue, printed in Mad issue #330 (September 1994).
'The Startling Similarities Between Ancient Mythology & Modern Rock' (Mad #306, October 1991).
Move to Paris
Tulka, who first visited Paris during a summer semester through the Pratt Institute in 1975, returned to the city of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and painters near the Seine riverside in 1993. Once back home in Brooklyn, he and his wife really wondered why they had returned and decided to move to Paris permanently, arriving there in March 1995. In France, Tulka's caricatures and illustrations appeared in Charlie Hebdo, Chien Méchant, L'Étudiant, Famili, Les Inrockuptibles, Jeune & Jolie, Lire, Marianne, Le Monde and Télérama. During the World Cup Association Football (1998) in Paris, he sketched sports fans in the city watching the game, which he was able to sell to magazines. He also made a series of caricatures of French politicians, put on display in the Parisian parliament, as part of their permanent exhibition. In January 2015, after the terrorist attacks on the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Tulka joined the peaceful demonstration held in the wake of the tragedy. He also made some sketches during the event.
Tulka is a regular visitor at the Parisian café Le Sélect, where he often sketches customers. He first went there in the fall of 1993, drawing in the afternoon and again around 2 a.m., since it was the only café still open. Interviewed by Cathy Johnson on her blog artistjournalworkshop (17 January 2011), Tulka said he likes sitting along the back of the terrace. At Le Sélect, the chairs face each other so he can get a good view of customers sitting together or alone.
He recalled that the day the waiters paged through his sketchbook and were amused with his caricatures of all their familiar clientele was the day he felt accepted. Together with Noël Riley, he published the book 'Paris Cafe: The Sélect Crowd' (Soft Skull, 2007), a historical look at his favorite café. The book features Tulka's sketches of the location, its clientele, visitors and celebrities who once were regular customers there.
Graphic contributions
Apart from Mad, Tulka's work has also appeared in People Weekly, Reader's Digest, Money Magazine and Rolling Stone. He has contributed to publications such as Cadre Courrier, Le Soir and Spirou. In 1998, Tulka was hired by the Belgian newspaper Le Soir to work as a courtroom sketch artist during the trial against the perpetrators of the Augusta-Dassault corruption scandal.
Tulka livened up the pages of Ray James' 'The Man Show on Tap: A Guide to All Things Beer' (Gallery Books, 2004), a personal look on beer brands and various trivia surrounding the beverage. He also illustrated 'Today I Am A Ma'am; And Other Musings on Life, Beauty and Growing Older' (Harper Entertainment, 2001) by Valerie Harper and Catherine Whitney, a book for women leaving their younger years behind.
Recent years
Tulka has kept personal sketch books since 1973 and still enjoys drawing from life, either in cafés, museums, during airplane trips or simply from photos in books and magazines. The man prefers to keep his drawings textless, only adding an additional speech balloon if necessary. Apart from sketch books, he also owns a huge collection of celebrity caricatures, signed by the famous faces themselves. Among the big names who autographed his caricatures are Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Spike Lee, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Liza Minnelli, Lucille Ball, Stephen Sondheim and Johnny Carson. Even fellow artists like Al Hirschfeld, Paloma Picasso (daughter of Pablo Picasso), David Levine and Andy Warhol have put their signature on his artwork.
'A Mad guide to Mr. Right and Mr. Wrong' (Mad #381, May 1999).