After 67 years Mad Magazine will cease publishing content. It’s devastating, it’s the end of an era! I grew up with MAD Magazine, waiting patiently for my cousin to give me his old issues so I could inspect the fold-in cover in the rear.
Kicking off in 1952 as a comic book, it morphed into a magazine in 1955. By the mid 70s MAD Magazine hit its peak with over 2 million readers. They were on to something special – a mix of political parodies and edgy humour, it seemed to set itself apart from other Mags.
MAD Magazine was the go-to for any budding cartoonist, the content was a comedy show and the artwork was quirky and left-of-field. Most of the time pushing the boundaries where the caricatures looked so wrong, but it was so funny. The magazine covers were often a parody of someone famous depicted in a way they would not be happy with. As years rolled on it seemed political correctness made it very hard for the magazine as they had to walk on egg-shells, people didn’t see the comedy aspect as much. MAD Magazine was known for its outrageous front covers, in which it mocked both current affairs and popular television programmes. The cover also often featured the magazine’s gap-toothed child mascot Alfred E. Newman on the cover.
In 1993, I did work experience in the cartooning department of the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. I had the chance to meet the Editor of Mad Magazine at the time, Nick Meglin in a pub in the city. He drew AE. Newman on a coaster for me. What an amazing memory in time, I still have the coaster today.
The coaster Nick Meglin sketched for me
A couple of facts you may not have known about MAD Magazine:
- From 1952 until 2018, Madpublished 550 issues, as well as hundreds of reprint “Specials”, original-material paperbacks, reprint compilation books and other print projects.
- The magazine’s numbering reverted to 1 with its June 2018 issue, coinciding with the magazine’s headquarters move to the West Coast.
Seeing all the tributes roll in around the world, shows how much impact Mad Magazine had on people’s lives growing up. I have so many copies of Mad Magazine to remind how it inspired my cartooning work.
RIP MAD!
