Mad Magazine, as you now know it, will soon cease to exist - the end of Mad Magazine 5 5

[ComicConnoisseur]

Really they stopped it because people stopped buying it. If people kept buying it they would have kept it going. It most likely died when the visionary Gaines died in the early 1990s.

I hear a lot of those Archie Comic digest sales are pretty low,so don`t be surprised if they get cancelled as well. Print media is dying.

 Most of the young crowd is just into digital today. 

It`s happening in every media. Blu-rays, dvd,records, books and yes even video games now.

I give comics credit for holding out the longest, but now Amazon is a giant in digital comics,so we know what will eventually happen.

The young crowd just doesn`t want to hoard stuff.

Less is more.

 

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by ComicConnoisseur

[Robot Man]

On 7/22/2019 at 10:13 AM, GomerPyleUSMC said:

I wouldn't equate commercial success with critical success. Harvey Kurtzman's position on the Mount Rushmore of cartoonists is assured if all he had done were his issues of MAD. I find a lot of good stuff in both Kurtzman's and post-Kurtzman MAD but I think they're really two different things. I have ambivalent feelings about Feldstein's MAD. True, editor Feldstein pumped up the readership to more than two million during MAD's circulation peak. On the flip side he oversaw the largest readership drop to a third of that figure before his retirement. A missed opportunity that shows there's only so much of the same formulaic humor that can be replayed again and again.

Mount Rushmore you say? If Kurtzman is up there Albert B Feldstein is right there with him I say. Took right over for Kurtzman without skipping a beat and continued to refine the magazine. 

[Senormac]

4 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Mount Rushmore you say? If Kurtzman is up there Albert B Feldstein is right there with him I say. Took right over for Kurtzman without skipping a beat and continued to refine the magazine. 

my oldest issue, for a long long time 

[Larryw7]

I really think Feldstein gets short shrift in the whole MAD story. He's the guy who made it the biggest selling magazine of the 1960's. Meanwhile, Kurtzman put out several MAD imitations- Trump, Help, etc-.and the magazines bombed. He then wasted his talents(IMO) drawing soft core porn for Playboy. He really tried to screw Gaines, demanding 51% of MAD after basically begging him to make MAD a slick,  at great personal expense to the Gaines family. I don't deny his talent, but I didn't really care for the man.

[Larryw7]

On 7/20/2019 at 10:26 PM, Phantalien said:

Trump Magazine

Humbug comic/magazine

Jungle Book

help Magazine

Then he became a teacher

All bombs. Hopefully he was a good teacher.

[Mmehdy]

the other issue raised by the "employee" was the fact that it took several months to generate a issue and by that time the political controversy had died, that news had accelerated so fast...but if Mad could use an end of the year summary...with people looking back it might be more relevant.  I agree with him...with a new owner..it always comes down to one thing...the bottom line...I give it a year before total shut down.

[dupont2005]

23 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Really they stopped it because people stopped buying it. If people kept buying it they would have kept it going. It most likely died when the visionary Gaines died in the early 1990s.

I hear a lot of those Archie Comic digest sales are pretty low,so don`t be surprised if they get cancelled as well. Print media is dying.

 Most of the young crowd is just into digital today. 

It`s happening in every media. Blu-rays, dvd,records, books and yes even video games now.

I give comics credit for holding out the longest, but now Amazon is a giant in digital comics,so we know what will eventually happen.

The young crowd just doesn`t want to hoard stuff.

Less is more.

 

 

The Archie digests are pretty much just reprints though so they may not cost much to keep in print.

[Senormac]

On 7/18/2019 at 4:40 AM, namisgr said:

No listing of the artistic geniuses that worked for MAD is complete without Jack Davis.

Found it.  Ever since you posted this I have had half an eye out looking for this shot I got a few years back.  

It was from an original comic art exhibit that came through town and displayed at the university museum for a couple weeks.

It was a great show.  

Jack Davis.  Original cover for MAD #2 

 

 

[01TheDude]

Received my first issue from the new subscription on Thursday... came with a outer paper wrap which was nice and the copy is in excellent shape. Thought for sure some dope at the post office would have read it on their lunch break.

[Senormac]

You have a sub to MAD ??  

They are going away !! 

I think you must be MAD !! 

[Robot Man]

Alfred E Neuman’s Daddy!

[kav]

On 8/16/2019 at 7:38 PM, 01TheDude said:

Received my first issue from the new subscription on Thursday... came with a outer paper wrap which was nice and the copy is in excellent shape. Thought for sure some dope at the post office would have read it on their lunch break.

They only read Cracked

[Senormac]

16 minutes ago, kav said:

On 8/16/2019 at 7:38 PM, 01TheDude said:

Received my first issue from the new subscription on Thursday... came with a outer paper wrap which was nice and the copy is in excellent shape. Thought for sure some dope at the post office would have read it on their lunch break.

They only read Cracked

Cracked sucked   

[kav]

1 minute ago, Senormac said:

Cracked sucked   

I couldnt believe Steinfield chose that mag over Mad for that episode except well maybe they want George to look dumber I guess.

[Senormac]

It was like ……  

Minor baseball league 

[Senormac]

1 minute ago, kav said:

3 minutes ago, Senormac said:

Cracked sucked   

I couldnt believe Steinfield chose that mag over Mad for that episode except well maybe they want George to look dumber I guess.

So what was it about that mag ?  To me, it was like a wanna be MAD.  It was second string.  It was artists holding cell and temporary work until they "made it"  

I was crushed when Don Martin did some work for them 

[kav]

19 minutes ago, Senormac said:

So what was it about that mag ?  To me, it was like a wanna be MAD.  It was second string.  It was artists holding cell and temporary work until they "made it"  

I was crushed when Don Martin did some work for them 

Me too.  Instead of 'mad' eg crazy they were 'cracked' eg crazy.  Instead of a dufus Al Newman they had that dufus janitor kid.  It was 100% rip off brand ecccchh.  They even copied Mad's layouts.  Couldnt believe it sold a single copy.  spent nearly half a century with a fan base primarily comprised of people who got to the store after Mad sold out.  I sent some stuff to Mad and they printed it.  I sent some stuff to Cracked and they said 'dont send us so much stuff'.

fun fact: Jack Kirby did a feature for Cracked once.

[Senormac]

3 minutes ago, kav said:

.

fun fact: Jack Kirby did a feature for Cracked once.

Do tell .  Or better yet, show some pics

[Lazyboy]

4 minutes ago, kav said:

spent nearly half a century with a fan base primarily comprised of people who got to the store after Mad sold out.

[kav]

1 minute ago, Senormac said:

Do tell .  Or better yet, show some pics

Cracked #14: