
Mad Magazine to mostly stop publishing new material - elsewhen
https://comicbook.com/2019/07/04/mad-magazine-shutdown-details-revealed/
======
TunnelTheMole
As a 63yr.old, I have nothing but admiration and adoration for the staff, the
magazine and the quick quips that remain with me. Nary a day goes by that my
internal dialogue doesn't reference some part of MAD's escapes from the staid.
As a child ( one of 5 siblings), Saturdays were spent going to and from dreary
piano & theory lessons in St.Louis (pre-interstate and daylight savings time
equaled a 2&1/2 hour ride, one way). Each of us usually had several hours in
the city to "kill", wandering around the Woolworths and surrounding locale of
Clayton, MO. MAD made the 2&1/2 hours home sandwiched inside the station wagon
seem like my escape: the humour and wit between the pages, the cartoons &
charactitures(sic?) hidden between the 'departments', and the political
(sub)commentary relentlessly and endlessly amused me. I, too, read the issues
from cover to cover, over and over..."Believe it or nuts", my heart mourns in
its memory and mourns MAD's memorialized messages.

RIP, Alfred E. Neumann! May you live forever in our minds and memories!

~~~
sizzzzlerz
We're nearly the same age and I, too, was a huge fan of Mad during it's hey-
days years in the 60s. I especially loved the satirization of current TV shows
but what made the magazine so delicious was that our parents hated it (albeit,
let us read it, anyway) and it was considered to be subversive by adults. How
could it not be successful? I haven't read it in decades but it is a fond
memory of my youth.

------
jedberg
This reminded me of my love of Spy vs Spy, and I found a free archive!
[https://archive.org/details/SpyVsSpyTheCompleteCasebook](https://archive.org/details/SpyVsSpyTheCompleteCasebook)

~~~
taneq
That is brilliant! Thank you!

------
pg_bot
I'll miss Mad, it's what I read as a kid waiting to get my hair cut. If you
knew how the magazine was produced you could sense this day was coming. They
are legendary for having staff members with 30-50 year careers. For example
the guy who does the fold-ins, (every one of them has been made by one guy -
Al Jaffee) is 98 and has been with the magazine for 64 years. The young guys
in the office are likely in their 60's. Combine that with the decline in print
media in general and I don't see a reasonable way to continue production.

~~~
thinkingkong
Al Jaffee also wrote all the “snappy answers to stupid questions” which is
basically a bible for funny. If you havent had the chance to read them Id
_highly_ suggest it.

~~~
mynameishere
A bible for grinding a bit into the ground over decades. The book version of
those had little blank templates so the reader could write his own "Snappy
Answers". Why the hell not?

I think Homer's were as good as any:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3aDRoO8Sw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3aDRoO8Sw)

...I guess I'm a downer. Did you know Chevy Chase wrote gags for MAD? They had
a lot of outside writers like that. Even Don Martin (whose cartoons seemed
pretty straightforward, even if he was the "maddest") used writers for jokes.

------
cybersnowflake
Its a different world. Comedy will belong to those who have the bravery to
make fun of today's sacred cows not yesterday's.

Mad was built on parodying a Middle American mindset that largely doesn't
exist anymore. Thanks in small part to counterculture such as it self. In a
way its a victim of its own success. It tore down the enemy too well and the
counterculture is 'the Man' now. You can see the same thing happening with the
Simpsons. Its lost its purpose.

On another note, I'm not going to pretend that simply being left leaning
doomed Mad but there are already a gajillion places simply making fun of
Drumpf and Republicans. Gotta stand out somehow.

~~~
taurath
Not to veer wildly into politics, but the gajillion places making fun of the
right seem to be much less effectual than in the past. The ubiquitousness of
the conversation centering around them seems to be getting coopted as an
advantage. It’s “no press is bad press” on cocaine and I’m really curious when
the societal antibodies are going to kick in, if they exist. I’m trying to
think of the punch that’s landed the hardest and actually caused damage, and
I’m coming up short.

I’m not saying this as a partisan or political argument, but I’m genuinely
curious about the sociological implications. It’s a very... strange puzzle to
me, and I’d welcome some fresh perspectives.

~~~
cybersnowflake
Setting aside arguments that could be considered more partisan...I think its
partially mainstreaming. I'm sure an early Church father or Renaissance
secularist were a bit more sophisticated in promulgating and defending their
creed than your average Joe Schmoe door to door evangelist or random early
2000s poster to r/atheism. What was the domain of (still crazy imo) but select
group of activists/academics is now to the point where people with actual
diagnosed mental disorders are latching on to it in large numbers. (my
personal favorite way of measuring whether something is mainstream)
[https://youtu.be/Gzdf4V7Cf_M](https://youtu.be/Gzdf4V7Cf_M)

Also theres the new dynamic which has emerged within the past decade or 2 but
has ramped up considerably where Progressives are the new establishment. They
of course have dominated certain areas for a long time but its at the point
now where every major sector of society (with a current trivial exception of a
tenuous hold on a few offices in the federal government) is controlled by
people who are fanatics for or at least bow to what would have been considered
ridiculous political correctness/social justice only a few short years
earlier. Parody walks hand in hand with fighting against something larger. So
does self actualization. Hence the desperate attempts for people to convince
themselves that Google/MS/Facebook/Amazon/CNN/HuffPo/NYT et al is 'The
Resistance'.

~~~
taurath
Excuse me for a moment while I mourn for my youtube suggestions.

I think mainstreaming is an interesting point - a similar strain to what
people are calling the "rise of populism" which ends up being more direct. In
some ways its empowering the unwashed masses, and in others its being more
genuine/less filtered.

I had another paragraph here that went into how progressives aren't the
establishment economically by any means and was about to disagree, but after
re-reading and scoping your argument to just having command of the social
landscape I think you're probably correct. The lines of attack brought on by
some in the social justice world can be patently ridiculous, and are ripe for
parody. Its difficult to come around to being empathetic to that fact when
most of my upbringing was during the culture wars against the "prudes", who
had all the power and were using it to gatekeep everyone. I'm certainly more
comfortable living in this social environment myself, but I remember the
feelings of empowerment when we got to call out something in society that was
obviously bullshit bullshit.

I suppose I have some fear around that as a natural backlash on some issues
can turn into a general backlash against the entire thing - are we heading for
another Disco Demolition? Or will a more middle ground maturing of language
happen? One thing does seem almost certain - the corporations will make a lot
of money any way the wind blows.

~~~
pjc50
> are we heading for another Disco Demolition?

I think we're well past that and into the indiscriminate murder.
[https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2019/jun/28/charlottesvi...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2019/jun/28/charlottesville-james-fields-life-sentence-heather-heyer-car-
attack)

There have been a few attempts to start mass destruction of consumer products
in response to companies getting involved in the culture war, such as Nike
supporting the "take a knee" protests. The only reason nobody's done this with
music is that it's dematerialised.

~~~
taurath
I wouldn’t take the act of destruction as being literal. However, if all of a
sudden Nike’s became actually uncool and not just uncool with the alt-right
then that would be a Disco Demolition.

------
drawkbox
MAD helped the world learn to laugh at itself, including comedic cynicism and
sarcasm with top notch satire aimed at everyone including themselves at MAD.

MAD inspired all types of comedy from many greats today. Terry Gilliam called
MAD's Harvey Kurtzman his mentor [1]. Judd Apatow says similar. It inspired
Cracked, National Lampoon and many other comedy media. MAD was even partially
responsible for the counter culture [2].

The re-launch I think wasn't truly the MAD spirit but I was hopeful for it
continuing, always a subscriber. MAD didn't transition well after the
internet, even though they were like a pre-internet must see destination.
After 2000 they held under 250k subscribers [3].

I'll miss dearly new content from Alfred E. Neuman and the 'usual gang of
idiots' for sure, but we'll always have MAD history.

MAD will forever have changed the world and comedy for the better. The world
could use more MAD satire today so it is sad to see it go.

[1] [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5756899/My-MAD-
men...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5756899/My-MAD-mentor-Terry-
Gilliam-on-Harvey-Kurtzman.html)

[2] [https://groovyhistory.com/mad-magazine-
covers-1960s](https://groovyhistory.com/mad-magazine-covers-1960s)

[3] [https://blog.comichron.com/2019/07/the-complete-mad-
magazine...](https://blog.comichron.com/2019/07/the-complete-mad-magazine-
sales-history.html)

------
Pfhreak
It seems to me that MAD was an older generation's magazine that didn't do a
good job pivoting to a new audience.

Looking at the cover in the link, it already feels 30 years old. (The
characteristic MAD face evokes old-timey Americana in a way that feels
nostalgic more than current.)

~~~
ojbyrne
Honestly I'm nearly 60, and I never liked Mad. It felt juvenile when I was 12.

~~~
coldtea
Yeah, I also read Plato at 12 (or Heidegger if I wanted something light).

~~~
Der_Einzige
Heidigger isn't worth reading by anyone of any age. He's one of the OG
Charlatans before DnG and Lacan beat him out

~~~
coldtea
I was joking (to make a point about the elitism of the parent), but still,
that's like your opinion, man.

He is still considered one of the biggest thinkers of philosophy in the 20th
century, personal warts and all.

Plus, as a European, I wouldn't trust people with analytical/anglo-saxon
philosophical tendencies to know philosophy when they see it (e.g. re D/G and
Lacan).

~~~
lobotryas
Honestly your joke did not translate over the internet. It read like you were
bragging about being very smart.

------
drmpeg
My brother used to let me read Mad Magazine out loud to test my just learned
reading skills when I was in 1st grade (circa 1963). One time, I pronounced a
word as "eye-doyt". My brother knew that wasn't a word and had to look at the
page. The word was actually "idiot".

------
JohnJamesRambo
The joy of childhood me sitting down with an issue of Mad Magazine is
unquantifiable. Such great memories reading that hilarious magazine.

------
acomjean
Gothamist had some decent articles / videos on mad recently. Including one on
Al Jafffee who did the folding back page. They’re short and pretty
interesting.

[https://gothamist.com/2016/05/18/mad_magazine_video_tour.php](https://gothamist.com/2016/05/18/mad_magazine_video_tour.php)

Al Jaffee interview:

[https://gothamist.com/2016/05/05/al_jaffee_mad_magazine.php](https://gothamist.com/2016/05/05/al_jaffee_mad_magazine.php)

------
Fricken
I inherited my Dad's Mad magazines which covered the mid 60s to the early 70s,
and my Uncle's, which covered the early 70s to the early 80s, and my
collection, which began in 1984 and ran to 1993. I read them all over and
over. I learned about the world through the spectre of Mad, it was my primary
education.

Of course, it ain't what it used to be and hasn't been for a long time, so I
guess I'm not that sad to see it go. It was a different era.

~~~
kstrauser
Same. It's not exaggerating to say that it taught me a healthy distrust of
authority and corporate America. RIP, gang. You showed me a great many new
ideas.

~~~
klenwell
Also gave Donald Knuth his first big break:

> At age 19, Dr. Knuth published his first technical paper, “The Potrzebie
> System of Weights and Measures,” in Mad magazine.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/science/donald-knuth-
comp...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/science/donald-knuth-computers-
algorithms-programming.html)

I shudder to think where computer science would be today were it not for the
sage foresight and mature discrimination of Mad magazine.

------
Razengan
Words like Potrzebie and Furshlugginer will forever be stuck in my head.

~~~
Krustopolis
Don't forget "Poit!"

~~~
mirimir
... and "you can't train nose hairs".

------
Razengan
Speaking of Spy vs Spy, I have always wanted a modern game with the same
mechanics as the Commodore 64 trilogy; players running around setting up comic
traps against each other. Would make for some great couch multiplayer,
especially on the Nintendo Switch!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2e866bEcM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2e866bEcM)

------
gHosts
It's finally happened.

Satire can no longer compete with reality.

------
emeryberger
Shannon Wheeler shared this really excellent round up of Mad's decline written
by Tom Richmond, a long-time MAD Magazine contributor.

[https://www.tomrichmond.com/the-end-of-the-
madness/04/07/201...](https://www.tomrichmond.com/the-end-of-the-
madness/04/07/2019/)

------
sequoia
I love mad magazine despite being born in the 1980s–I bought old copies from
comic shops and the paperbacks were easy to find at used book stores. I even
bought the cd-rom box-set with the entire archives at one point! My kids now
read my old mad books and magazines.

That said, I think it's good that they're packing it in. All good things must
end some day, and Mad Magazine has been past its prime for some time now. As
other commenters suggest, the context in which Mad was revolutionary & cutting
has long past & its style of irreverence is now almost ubiquitous.

But I can't say I won't miss the furshlugginer thing!

------
golem14
Sad. I’d love to get a complete collection of the German translation (which
was as least as awesome as the american version). Anyone know whether this
exists ? You could buy the entire US collection on CD for ≈$40 a while back
(still can: [https://www.amazon.com/Absolutely-MAD-
Magazine-50-Years/dp/B...](https://www.amazon.com/Absolutely-MAD-
Magazine-50-Years/dp/B000HKMQ64))

------
godzillabrennus
It’s too bad that they never transitioned into newer forms of media to capture
their demographic as the internet took hold.

I remember them as a teen in the 90’s and they still had a captive audience in
my peers and I. After the mobile computing revolution had taken hold I don’t
think teens even were aware they existed.

~~~
bsder
Has any once-successful print media actually pivoted and been equally as
successful?

I can't actually think of one.

~~~
52-6F-62
NYT has done quite well for itself. And you have one of their former
developers (Mike Bostock) for a number of the most popular web libraries over
the past 8-10 years or so.

~~~
bsder
Has it? Is it pulling in the same money as when it was a print juggernaut?

This seems to suggest "not really":
[https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NYT/new-york-
times...](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NYT/new-york-
times/revenue)

~~~
52-6F-62
I'd say yes.

That chart suggested that the times revenue has seen YOY increases every year
since 2016.

Also, it really depends on your definition of success.

[https://www.statista.com/chart/3755/digital-subscribers-
of-t...](https://www.statista.com/chart/3755/digital-subscribers-of-the-new-
york-times/)

(of course, take this as you will:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/business/media/new-
york-t...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/business/media/new-york-times-
earnings-digital-subscriptions.html))

------
tannhaeuser
While I'm not sure why Mad will cease publishing exactly, I'm wondering what
we can do to keep weird and edgy stuff afloat. Millenials and up are really
missing out badly, and I'm blaming WWW economics as they have developed, along
with the monopolistic sales channels and our reluctance to buy any online
publication at all. Mad is even pretty mild/mainstream compared to the stuff
we had in the 90s (in Germany at least). What option does an author/artist
have today to make a buck with his works? Wasn't the WWW supposed to enable
easy publishing for everybody?

~~~
dillonmckay
Look what happened to ‘Cracked’, both offline and online.

------
acomjean
Because you need to see all the mad covers: (in 90s html, but it’s static so
fast)

[https://www.madcoversite.com/covers.html](https://www.madcoversite.com/covers.html)

------
jccalhoun
When they relaunched a year or two ago I tried to find an issue to buy. I went
to the local chain bookstore, a couple supermarkets, and Walmart and couldn't
find it. I didn't know if that was because none of those places had ordered it
or if it was already sold out. Since then I have picked up a couple issues and
found them to be pretty good. Sad to see them coming to an end.

------
andrewstuart
The surprising thing is that it was still going.

------
dredmorbius
See also:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20351568](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20351568)

------
gitgud
> " _When political humor seemed to work, MAD doubled down on lampooning the
> Trump administration, which earned some critical praise but likely alienated
> conservative readers as well as putting the magazine in direct competitions
> with late night shows that were delivering content nightly_ "

This is so sad to see. The fact that they took the easy road of _Trump_ jokes,
is far from the magazine I once knew. They used to have witty images and
commentary that would appeal to many...

------
taneq
Spy vs. Spy will never die.

------
ptah
possibly as real life has become the same as the contents of mad? :)

------
RappingBoomer
what, me worry?

------
dang
Url changed from [https://comicbook.com/dc/2019/07/04/mad-magazine-to-cease-
pu...](https://comicbook.com/dc/2019/07/04/mad-magazine-to-cease-
publication/), which points to this.

------
Digory
Haha. Someone killed a "what, me worry?" comment. Guess that shows how little
Mad impacted the next generation.

~~~
dang
That was killed by software. HN has many software filters, most of which are
based on past activities by spammers or trolls. Moderators review most such
posts and unkill the legit comments, but users can also unkill them by
vouching for them. To do that, click on the comment's timestamp to go to its
page, then click 'vouch' at the top. (There's a small karma threshold,
currently 30, before an account can do that.)

