Mad Magazine closing down after 70 years

[editor]

I'm amazed it's been going for so long, to be honest.
Mad Magazine, as you now know it, will soon cease to exist

 

[a_chap]

Regularly used to buy it in the '70s. Cannot recall seeing a copy for sale anywhere for years; even in airport newsagents - and they stock just about anything!

R.I.P. Alfred E. Neuman.

 

[Indeliblelink]

I don't think I've ever purchased a copy of the magazine but I used to regularly buy their books from second hand stores in the 80s. Absolutely loved them.
Spy vs. Spy R.I.P.

 

[maomao]

It's because I've stopped going up to Bradford on the bus to see my granny. That's the only time I ever bought it.

It had some classic stuff (Sergio Aragones!) in it and a lot of dross too.

 

[Lurdan]

Regularly used to buy it in the '70s. Cannot recall seeing a copy for sale anywhere for years; even in airport newsagents - and they stock just about anything!

Between 1959 and 1994 there was a local edition produced in the UK. After that ended it was much less easily available.

This is all part of the shake up following the acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T, and specifically the reorganization of DC Comics. Lot more rationalisation to come I think.

 

[Voley]

I liked it as a kid. The fold-ins on the back page were good, if very difficult to line up!

But I saw one in the 80's where they were trying very hard to rip the piss out of The Young Ones and even back then it looked like they were out of step. 'Of its time' I think.

 

[Idris2002]

I dunno, Voley, this only works because it's registering its appalled reaction to these ghastly young people:

 

[Gromit]

Never ever read it but I'll miss the Simpsons making reference to it.

Played Spy v Spy the video games. Any relation?

 

[elbows]

Played Spy v Spy the video games. Any relation?

Yes, and I think reading reviews of the Spy vs Spy game when growing up was probably the only time I even heard about Mad magazine.

 

[Part 2]

One of those things like MASH that my Dad tried to interest me in. Didn't get it, liked doing the fold in with the cover that's about it..

 

[pesh]

I thought the school shooting bit they did at the end of last year was pretty powerful...

 

[a_chap]

Breaking news: 6.4 earthquake in Southern California

And John Carpenter's take is...?

 

[Orang Utan]

It was the only American comic I ever bought. I don't remember ever seeing Marvel comics amongst the comic section in my local newsagent, but Mad was always there in between the Beanos, Dandys, Busters, Eagles and 2000AD. Mad was my favourite after I grew out of Beezer and Whizzer N Chips. I liked the tiny cartoons in the margins (eg 'Gesundheit!). The film parodies were really lame but the artwork was amazing. So much more sophisticated than British cartoons.

 

[girasol]

Never bought it but always seem to be around when I was growing up (translated to Portuguese). Had no idea it was still going

 

[Badgers]

My dad (collector of ephemera and fan of comics) had crates of them he got at an auction or car boot sale or some such. I read through a fair number as a young kiddie. Struggled with the style of humour but enjoyed them.

 

[StoneRoad]

I don't remember buying any of these, although I might have done. I certainly "read " more than a few as a student - copies were always kicking around campus. One of the art dept lecturers always seemed to have a copy - I think he taught graphic design.

 

[fishfinger]

Alfred E. Neuman is going to be out of a job

 

[Yossarian]

I liked it as a kid. The fold-ins on the back page were good, if very difficult to line up!

But I saw one in the 80's where they were trying very hard to rip the piss out of The Young Ones and even back then it looked like they were out of step. 'Of its time' I think.

Al Jaffee, the cartoonist who created the fold-in, is 98 years old and still working for Mad.

 

[Lurdan]

Al Jaffee, the cartoonist who created the fold-in, is 98 years old and still working for Mad.

If he hasn't already I suspect he may be getting an email about that...

 

[Sprocket.]

I used to buy it as a spotty 12-13 year old around 1970. I like Voley think it was of its time and the late sixties, early seventies was the time for Mad.
By the mid to late seventies I had found The Fabulous Furry Freaks and Robert Crumb, I never returned to Mad.
Good run though.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Between 1959 and 1994 there was a local edition produced in the UK. After that ended it was much less easily available.

This is all part of the shake up following the acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T, and specifically the reorganization of DC Comics. Lot more rationalisation to come I think.

This, and the shuttering of Vertigo, has all the hallmarks of clueless coked-up parent company execs trying to blue skies imagineer the crap out of each other, sort of up there with Ted Turner deciding Casablanca needs to be colourised

 

[DaveCinzano]

Also, it isn't being closed (yet), just won't be sold at news stands.

 

[Lurdan]

Also, it isn't being closed (yet), just won't be sold at news stands.

Still no official announcement I think but the rumours seem well sourced. After the next two (already solicited) issues have used up whatever material has already been commissioned it will be all reprints. The only new material will be covers and (possibly) a year end special. Editorial staff have already been 'let go'. Looks pretty dead to me.

Sales figures here at Comichron illustrate the background. Average print run during 2018 was 269 thousand, of which 102 thousand were paid subscriptions and 46 thousand sold at news stands (and presumably the comics direct market). Returns of unsold copies from news stands averaged 119 thousand. Last years reboot and renumbering seems to have boosted subscription sales, and overall sales rose, but news stand sales continued to fall.

I point this out not to suggest that shuttering was financially inevitable. The figures of overall sales are respectable by comic periodical standards, although I assume production and distribution costs may have been higher. But 'by comic periodical standards' still means it was financially marginal enough to require commitment from its owners.

Be interesting to see whether the reorganization at DC Comics that's just been announced means that they too are in the last chance saloon in their present form.

 

[petee]

a sort-of eulogy

Mad Magazine, Irreverent Baby Boomer Humor Bible, Is All but Dead

It also published a cover featuring President Trump. There he was, in the Oval Office, flanked by his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was portrayed as none other than Alfred E. Neuman.

 

[souljacker]

My brother loved Mad magazine and has a big stack of them somewhere. Some of it was funny-ish, but I always thought it was a bit odd. I assumed Americans found it hilarious. I did like Spy Vs Spy but my fondest memory of that strip was the fantastic video games it produced.

 

[petee]

I assumed Americans found it hilarious,

this american never found it funny, apart from spy-vs-spy and the inside back page. i understand it was a good deal more interesting in the 50s when it started, mccarthy era and that.

 

[A380]

I loved it as a kid and have a box full of the paper backs somewhere.

I brought a copy of the magazine when I was last in the States but before that it must have been 30 years.

So my fault then.

 

[krtek a houby]

Bought an issue when I was in Eason's back in January, on the strength of the cover. Reasonably amusing after all these years.



I also liked the ripoffs/competitors in the 70s and 80s

 

[Lurdan]

 

[klang]

Wouldn't expect Der Spiegel to come up with anything better. Shite mag.