Spy vs. Spy

Spy vs. Spy is a wordless comic strip published in Mad magazine, created in 1961 by Cuban expatriate cartoonist Antonio Prohías who drew it until 1987 when others took over. Peter Kuper has written and illustrated the strip since 1997. A parody of the political ideologies of the Cold War, the strip debuted in Mad #60, dated January 1961. The series features two agents involved in stereotypical and comical espionage activities. One is dressed in white and the other in black, but they are otherwise identical and are particularly known for their long and beak-like heads and their white pupils and black sclera. The duo are always at war with each other, using a variety of booby traps to inflict harm on the other. The spies usually alternate between victory and defeat (sometimes both win and both lose) with each new strip. The Spy vs. Spy characters have been featured in such media as video games and an animated television series, and in such merchandise as action figures and trading cards.