I'm afraid most of the blame for that goes to me.
I bought MAD regularly when I was between the ages of 10 to 16. And then I dropped it (picking up an occasional issue when it lampooned a specific movie or TV show).
I'm not sure why I gave it up - I always liked it. Heck, I still like it - but you can't buy everything, so it fell off my list.
DC Comics took over the publication in the '90s, though it left editorial control in the hands of its longtime contributors - at least until recently. Now that company has announced that MAD will go to the direct market (comics shops) and will eventually become (mostly) a reprint only publication.
As Rudy Panucci points out in his excellent PopCult article (which you can read at this link: POPCULT), this feels like ominous times for DC.
The company just shuttered its beloved Vertigo line, and given lean times in the comics business, it's not much of a stretch to imagine all the comics companies going to a mostly reprint formula, tapping into the decades of material they have on hand.
It's the kind of thing that makes executives and accountants very happy - and breaks the hearts of fans around the world.
Hopefully it's just a bit of housecleaning, some reorganization at DC, and not the end of an era.
MAD's demise can obviously be linked to the plummeting market for magazines - transplanted by the Internet and eBooks and Kindles and suchlike.
The tragedy is the loss of the laughter - there's always a need for humor and satire and rudeness in our lives - especially well-crafted work. But it's getting harder and harder to find.
(What's left? The Simpsons? Saturday Night Live?)
Perhaps it really is time for Alfred E. Newman to start worrying.
1 comment:
While it's been years since I bought an issue of MAD Magazine, it was a favorite of my childhood. My first issue was #105, during Bat-Mania in the mid-1960's. The cover had an Adam West style Batman looking at Alfred E. Newman who was dressed as Robin.
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