Antonio Prohias(1921-1998)

Antonio Prohias was born in Cuba, and became interested in drawing at an early age. His satirical drawings, which mostly poked fun at Castro, appeared in many Cuban political magazines during the 1950s. His critical views of the government made him many enemies, and made life difficult for him. On May 1, 1960, just three days before Castro seized control of the country's presses, Prohias fled the country to avoid arrest. He arrived in the US virtually penniless. While working a series of menial jobs, Prohias made the rounds of the local magazines with his work.

It was in 1961 that Prohias dropped off a short cartoon at the offices of MAD Magazine. The cartoon featured a pair of odd looking spies, both identical except for their coloring. MAD ran the cartoon in the January, 1961 issue, and "Spy vs Spy" was born. Prohias continued to draw the strip for MAD until 1990, when poor health forced him to retire. By then, he'd drawn over 500 strips featuring the pointy-nosed two-some. Prohias died in 1998, but "Spy vs Spy" lives on both in animated form (on "MAD TV") and in a Sunday comic strip.