Mad magazine artist Woodbridge dead

George Woodbridge in a self-portrait.

Woodbridge died of emphysema Tuesday, said his wife, Deborah Woodbridge. "He had a tremendous eye for detail that showed up in his drawings," Mad Editor John Ficarra said Thursday. "We especially played to his history knowledge. When we gave him a piece on World War I, he would draw the exact gun and belt buckle they were using then."

Woodbridge's delicate cross-hatched illustrations were the result of careful research, particularly in rendering historical scenes. In fact, Woodbridge had a second career as an illustrator of military history books, including the three-volume American Military Equipage, 1851-1872.

A native of New York, Woodbridge began as a freelance artist for Mad in 1957, five years after the satirical magazine's inception. One of Woodbridge's most memorable illustrations was for the 1965 sports satire 43-Man Squamish, about a nonsensical game in which the equipment included shepherd's crooks and diving flippers.

"It's arguably our most requested piece to reprint," Ficarra said. "It struck a chord. Colleges all over formed teams and played this crazy game, with these ridiculous-looking helmets. George captured that lunacy."

He was a stickler for detail, authenticating even the drape of clothing through the study of historical documents.