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Mad Magazine, as you now know it, will soon cease to exist - the end of Mad Magazine
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200 posts in this topic

For me, it was a fun read when we were in 6-8th grade - late 1970s. I wasn't a buyer of the magazine but someone always seemed to have the latest issue. Some times we just red it on the news stand itself or in the grocery store. Always liked the spy vs spy stuff though I could never figure out who to root for - lol. And of course-- folding the back cover to reveal the secret was a must do. Around that time-- they seemed to spoof anything-- politics of course but also popular TV shows. I think it gave me a new perspective on what I was watching since the parodies boldly pointed out some of the plain absurdity of those shows.

Those years were the only time I really read the magazine other than the handful of panels shown in this thread. I can see why so many were big fans and even subscribers back in the day. But all good things eventually come to an end. If the quality has dropped to what some are saying here-- perhaps it is a good thing that the magazine is ending. You really need that leader who spearheads the vision --  and as such, when Gaines died, the magazine died with him though it suffered through what sounds like years of life support. RIP Mad-- you had a nice run!

We can all mourn the death of these things - blame it on the internet or digital technology or video games all we want. But I bet when I was a kid, there were things that ended during that time that people were having the same feelings about. There is a little hope-- as seen by the resurgence of interest in vinyl recordings. I am guessing that while the total printed material declines drastically over time that the stories, art, and series will continue in some form (included printed for those who demand it and are willing to pay through the nose to get it). I felt this time was decades ago-- when the price of a comic book went from 35 to 40 cents. That was the last straw for me though it also coincided with the beginning of teen/adulthood. How anyone can cough up (direct edition price) $4 for a comic these days boggles my mind. But just like vinyl records, eventually all the large collections will be replaced or forgotten. Though the fact that the artwork/stories will be saved digitally forever is at least somewhat comforting. With any luck-- kids will one day again discover the joy we had with them- even if they can't hold it in their hands.

Edited by 01TheDude
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9 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

550 issues is quite a run...interesting that the first 23 were the best in my opinion....

Every generation has it’s own “Golden Age” for me it’s probably 1962-1968 after that, I still read and collected comics but girls, rock ‘n roll and cars were my big focus. NEVER stopped reading MAD though...

My favorite ones to this day are the Kelly Freas cover issues. 

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12 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

550 issues is quite a run...interesting that the first 23 were the best in my opinion....

The comic-sized issues reprinted in the colour Russ Cochran EC Library format are the only Mad books I have in my collection.  Great artwork, but the humour seemed a bit forced to me; not too surprising as I read them in the 80s with their cultural references being decades old, transatlantic and often unfamiliar as well.  Mad and Panic are my least favourite Library sets from the classic EC 50s period. 

Edited by Ken Aldred
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I read Mad in the 80s, liked a lot of the artwork, but never found the satire particularly funny.

I was much more into the UK's Viz Magazine, which, during the same period, was for me the most consistently-hilarious comic book of all time. 

Edited by Ken Aldred
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Great selection of covers.

As a progression from the last one, I would've ended with the classic 'Middle Finger cover'.

Just for fun.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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I am a HUGE Mad fan but I can honestly say that I have not wanted to purchase the magazine since they started added advertisements.   The wife and I were talking about what could have saved it and we thought that if it wasn't owned by DC comics they could have gone digital and become an online entitiy.  Then, 2-4 times a year they release a print version of their comics in a TPB with some extra content due it being in print.   

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I really never liked that one. As controversial as it was and I appreciated where they were coming from, I felt that they were above that. I have found out in life what little that really means. I have discovered that a sarcastic remark or a smile has far better impact. 

My parents rarely cared what I was reading (even Playboy) But they didn’t get satire. They thought MAD was subversive and I had to stash them. If they ever saw that cover, they wouldn’t have “got it” and I’m sure they would have paid a lot more attention to my “reading habits”. 

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7 minutes ago, Phantalien said:

I am a HUGE Mad fan but I can honestly say that I have not wanted to purchase the magazine since they started added advertisements.   The wife and I were talking about what could have saved it and we thought that if it wasn't owned by DC comics they could have gone digital and become an online entitiy.  Then, 2-4 times a year they release a print version of their comics in a TPB with some extra content due it being in print.   

It has always been the “poor stepchild” to DC. I guess they felt they had to do the bare minimum on it and publish it anyway. They did superheroes, they rarely excelled at humor. Hopefully, they will keep it a float in the future. 

Edited by Robot Man
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1 hour ago, Ken Aldred said:

I read Mad in the 80s, liked a lot of the artwork, but never found the satire particularly funny.

I was much more into the UK's Viz Magazine, which, during the same period, was for me the most consistently-hilarious comic book of all time. 

I loved Mad but Viz was next level funny.  Mr Logic and Top Tips as well as the letters-

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32 minutes ago, kav said:

I loved Mad but Viz was next level funny.  Mr Logic and Top Tips as well as the letters-

Yup.

At its peak, it was genius.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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7 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Some of my favorite MAD covers!

These to me represent MAD at it's finest.

mad27.jpg

mad30a.jpg

mad30b.jpg

mad43.jpg

mad56.jpg

mad59.jpg

mad64.jpg

mad69.jpg

Just plain incredible...the quality of Freas and Mingo....today a pale shadow  of the current  covers...nothing can touch that and which was neglected by DC for the last 20 years..with hopes of some time of new Mad show......Does anybody know what was Bill Gaines last issue? Feldstien?...just curious...thanks

Edited by Mmehdy
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6 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

mad.jpg

There was a huge lawsuit over alred e neuman-some company was using the image before Mad.  Mad was able to show another company had used it before that and before that.  They were able to show the image had been used I think even before 1850-and no one knows who first used it or where it came from.

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9 minutes ago, kav said:

There was a huge lawsuit over alred e neuman-some company was using the image before Mad.  Mad was able to show another company had used it before that and before that.  They were able to show the image had been used I think even before 1850-and no one knows who first used it or where it came from.

An insurance company used the slogan "What? Me worry? I'm covered by the Columbia Windstorm Insurance Company" and this Victorian era styled Alfred E. Neuman predecessor on their business postcards and their calendars sometime during the mid to late 19th century. I had a friend who had a large Mad and Mad memorabilia collection. He had a few of each, and other ephemera with that same pre-Alfred character also. .

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13 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

An insurance company used the slogan "What? Me worry? I'm covered by the Columbia Windstorm Insurance Company" and this Victorian era styled Alfred E. Neuman predecessor on their business postcards and their calendars sometime during the mid to late 19th century. I had a friend who had a large Mad and Mad memorabilia collection. He had a few of each, and other ephemera with that same pre-Alfred character also. .

Company trying to sue Mad went 'aw damn' when it was shown that they also absconded the image.  You would think they would have known this cause, you know, NO ONE THERE CREATED THE IMAGE.  

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3 hours ago, kav said:

There was a huge lawsuit over alred e neuman-some company was using the image before Mad.  Mad was able to show another company had used it before that and before that.  They were able to show the image had been used I think even before 1850-and no one knows who first used it or where it came from. 

image.png.8da2b0c99efd9b7ab0e4bb7464146b1f.png

there were clues to where they found the image

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