MAD MAGAZINE ceases publication after 67 years

[GoogaMooga]

MAD MAGAZINE CEASES PUBLICATION AFTER 67 YEARS:
Nothing lasts forever. The humor magazine which Harvey Kurtzman founded in 1952 and which has entertained generations of youngsters, will cease publication soon. There will be a brief transition period of reprints until all subscriptions have been serviced, and then it's goodbye to comics' premier satire magazine.

[Powehi]

MAD MAGAZINE CEASES PUBLICATION AFTER 67 YEARS:
Nothing lasts forever. The humor magazine which Harvey Kurtzman founded in 1952 and which has entertained generations of youngsters, will cease publication soon. There will be a brief transition period of reprints until all subscriptions have been serviced, and then it's goodbye to comics' premier satire magazine.

Shame. Remember buying and reading every issue when I was young. Years and years ago, I picked up a pristine first ever copy of the UK edition of Mad in a bookshop for something like 5p. Still have it framed on my wall to this day.

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to how much that mag is now worth?

[GoogaMooga]

Just out of curiosity: when did it first appear in the UK? And didn't the UK edition feature some homegrown material as well?

And an aside: the Danish word for "food" is "mad" (with a soft *d*). So, once I bought an import issue in a Danish supermarket, that had not been price stickered. The check-out assistant called the back office and asked, "how much is that mag called "mad"?" He pronounced it as if he thought it was about food.

[Fonz]

I struggled to find anything funny in it, when my sis used to get it.
I remember the pic on the back cover that transformed into something else when you folded it in on itself. Clever. Too fucking clever by half.

That was the best bit.

[Powehi]

Just out of curiosity: when did it first appear in the UK? And didn't the UK edition feature some homegrown material as well?

And an aside: the Danish word for "food" is "mad" (with a soft *d*). So, once I bought an import issue in a Danish supermarket, that had not been price stickered. The check-out assistant called the back office and asked, "how much is that mag called "mad"?" He pronounced it as if he thought it was about food.

Think it was 1957 and pretty sure there was some UK content

[GoogaMooga]

I struggled to find anything funny in it, when my sis used to get it.
I remember the pic on the back cover that transformed into something else when you folded it in on itself. Clever. Too fucking clever by half.

That was the best bit.

It was always more in the visuals. It is true that something like the movie spoofs or the lifestyle strips of Dave Berg's weren't knee-slappingly funny, but as visual gags go, the mag had had a good triumvirate in Sergio Aragonés, (the marginals), Don Martin, and Prohias (Spy vs. Spy).

[Charlie O.]

A massive, massive part of my upbringing. Although I probably haven't bought a copy in close to 40 years, it is sad to think it won't be there anymore.

[toomanyhatz]

What Charlie said. For those of us around my age who have a sense of humor that is to any degree absurdist, Mad was a huge influence in that direction.

[Charlie O.]

For those of us around my age who have a sense of humor that is to any degree absurdist, Mad was a huge influence in that direction.

And satirical. Gentle satire, for the most part (there were exceptions), but it had the effect of inculcating a healthy skepticism in kids like me who might not otherwise have been inclined towards any kind of critical thinking.

[GoogaMooga]

It's also worth mentioning that those first 24 issues of MAD (color, comic book format) were a big influence on the underground comix that flourished in the mid to late 60s and early 70s. Changed comics for good.

[never/ever]

Have to agree with Googs that the spoofs were toecurdlingly bad at times but some of the regular artists, Spy vs Spy and the fold-in page were great.

Also just read the great Argentinian comic artist Mordillo passed away recently. His absurdist animal-humour would not have been out of place in MAD.

[never/ever]

Have to agree with Googs that the spoofs were toecurdlingly bad at times but some of the regular artists, Spy vs Spy and the fold-in page were great.

Also just read the great Argentinian comic artist Mordillo passed away recently. His absurdist animal-humour would not have been out of place in MAD.

[Snarfyguy]

A massive, massive part of my upbringing. Although I probably haven't bought a copy in close to 40 years, it is sad to think it won't be there anymore.

I recently bought a copy for my daughter, now seven, after she expressed interest.

I didn't think it was much good, but I'm not the target audience. I was heartened to see that it continued its mission of alerting children to the fact that popular culture (including politics) is in fact an appropriate subject of mockery.

I never knew that until read Mad. As with Charlie and Hatz, it would be hard to overstate its influence on me.

[Sneelock]

I buy one every couple of years. I used to cartoon as a hobby. I don't really do it anymore but I really adore cartoonists and MAD has been writing checks to some mighty good ones for a whole lot of years.

I discovered MAD with the Signet paperbacks of the best of the old (yellow logo) Kurtzman era but it was the later (red logo) Bill Gaines magazine sized version that made me part of the tribe that is speaking up about it now. there's probably a ten year period of my life when the most current copy of MAD was always in a drawer in the bathroom.

I saw a National Lampoon parody that mocked how locked into it's format it was in the mid 70's. this seemed fair but NatLamp was pretty locked into a format itself. still, this sense of familiarity is much of what makes the thought of it being gone a little hard to sort out. The format finally gave way - it almost had to but, as others have said, it's the tone of the thing. Don't take self important people at their word. MAD took on Nixon's criminality and Obama's indecisiveness. they parodied popular movies and personalities. they could be sexist and homophobic and draw hippies with flies and stink lines but, you know what? why not. it was often funny and good company in the bathroom.

I was just in the break room when President Trump was on TV reading one of his ghastly statements. well, MAD has gone after TRUMP a lot and for a lot of the right reasons to my way of thinking. they also go for the low hanging fruit but, again, it either makes you laugh or it doesn't.

helping people laugh at the world they live in strikes me as a pretty noble calling right about now. I knew who Lester Maddox and George Wallace were at least partly because MAD made fun of them. that was something like a public service. All the bad "women's lib" jokes & hippies with stink lines seem worth it in the long run.

[Powehi]

I buy one every couple of years. I used to cartoon as a hobby. I don't really do it anymore but I really adore cartoonists and MAD has been writing checks to some mighty good ones for a whole lot of years.

I discovered MAD with the Signet paperbacks of the best of the old (yellow logo) Kurtzman era but it was the later (red logo) Bill Gaines magazine sized version that made me part of the tribe that is speaking up about it now. there's probably a ten year period of my life when the most current copy of MAD was always in a drawer in the bathroom.

I saw a National Lampoon parody that mocked how locked into it's format it was in the mid 70's. this seemed fair but NatLamp was pretty locked into a format itself. still, this sense of familiarity is much of what makes the thought of it being gone a little hard to sort out. The format finally gave way - it almost had to but, as others have said, it's the tone of the thing. Don't take self important people at their word. MAD took on Nixon's criminality and Obama's indecisiveness. they parodied popular movies and personalities. they could be sexist and homophobic and draw hippies with flies and stink lines but, you know what? why not. it was often funny and good company in the bathroom.

I was just in the break room when President Trump was on TV reading one of his ghastly statements. well, MAD has gone after TRUMP a lot and for a lot of the right reasons to my way of thinking. they also go for the low hanging fruit but, again, it either makes you laugh or it doesn't.

helping people laugh at the world they live in strikes me as a pretty noble calling right about now. I knew who Lester Maddox and George Wallace were at least partly because MAD made fun of them. that was something like a public service. All the bad "women's lib" jokes & hippies with stink lines seem worth it in the long run.

The thing about parodies - be they artistic, literary or musical - is they only really work if the parodist has some love for what he/she is mocking. I would imagine almost all of the staffers at Nat Lamp grew up reading Mad. While it was excellent for a few years in the mid-70s, Nat Lamp eventually ran out of burning issues to ridicule.

Never did see NL's Mad parody, which issue is it in? Pretty sure they are all up in an online archive somewhere

[Sneelock]

here's some of it.
https://kittysneezes.com/what-me-funny- ... arody-577/
I LOVE the Planet of the Apes movies and "The Planet that Went Ape" is probably my favorite movie parody that they did.
http://fantasticflashbacks.blogspot.com ... ovies.html
"let me detonate that blessed bomb!" LOL.

[Loki]

[Powehi]

here's some of it.
https://kittysneezes.com/what-me-funny- ... arody-577/
I LOVE the Planet of the Apes movies and "The Planet that Went Ape" is probably my favorite movie parody that they did.
http://fantasticflashbacks.blogspot.com ... ovies.html
"let me detonate that blessed bomb!" LOL.

Cheers for that, Snee

[Loki]