Working Daze by John Zakour and Scott Roberts for July 07, 2019

I looked at issues on newsstands and it became obvious the magazine was aimed at readers WAY younger than myself.

Don’t feel guilty. I started reading Mad Magazine when I was about eleven or so, stopped about 20 years later, picked it up again a few years ago and it was a horrorshow compared to the real deal. The jokes were lame, the drawings lamer. IMHO of course.

I was reading it when it was still a comic book, not a magazine. Ah, happy memories of Prince Violent, Mickey Rodent, Darnold Duck, Badboy, and Melvin the Mole.

Scott, love Alfred E. Newman peaking into the room.

They’re not ceasing publication yet. The next two issues will still contain new material, but only the first of these will be available at newsstands, from then on the “new” issues will only be available via subscription and direct market retailers. And they won’t contain new material, they’re just reprints with new cover art.

https://comicbook.com/2019/07/04/mad-magazine-shutdown-details-revealed/

I know that feelings. Unfortunately.

It’s sad, but it’s been a long time coming. When Gaines died, they started taking advertising, and went to color and slick paper. Gaines produced it in black-and-white on cheap paper precisely so he didn’t have to take advertising. Sponsors can be censors, and the Magazine With No Ads had no sacred cows. WITH ads, they had to worry about who they would offend.

They also used to publish every 45 days – 8 issues a year (which might be unique). Gaines refused to go monthly, because he said the quality would suffer. Shortly after he died, they went monthly. And a bit after that, they had to cut back to quarterly, because quality suffered and sales fell.

Maybe they should take a tip from Cracked. Cracked dropped the printed magazine entirely, went entirely to a website, and I think they’re doing better than they ever did as Cracked.com.

Actually, the last issue I bought was a reprint issue a few months ago. A deceased friend of mine had written an article in it.

Is that Andromeda displaying her abilities in frame 2? Love it!

I loved Mad Magazine, but I stopped buying it/reading it when they started taking advertising. Those ads just ruined the whole magazine for me.

Guess that makes me guilty, too.

You. . .You mean the threat to shoot the dog didn’t work?!?!! All that outrage (is there an inrage?) for nothing?? I’m Shocked! Shocked I tell you!!

And this is why MAD Magazine died. We fans lost interest and stopped buying it.

I never bought a single issue – that’s what older brothers were for! And then I got a job overseas and when I came home, I didn’t see them anymore, don’t know why. I guess my shopping habits changed to places that didn’t stock it. I was honestly surprised it was still around.

Sorry its going, though, it got a lot of kids into reading and drawing.

I read MAD a lot in the 1960’s but as I got older I mostly lost interest, except for specific articles or movie satires. When still in elementary school (to mid 1960’s) I thought that perhaps MAD was illegal (at least for kids) and I was afraid that I might get in trouble with my parents or teachers for looking at it! I realized it was OK when my 5th or 6th Grade teacher talked about it when explaining the concept of satire. I realized later that my mother just thought it was in bad taste; my father thought it was hilarious.

The last time I even saw an issue would have been around 1975.

whatever happened to Mad TV? It was funnier than SNL!

New guy checking out previously unseen comic strip. So far, so good…..where’s all the hot office chicks? I hear Stormy Daniels is looking for a gig.

This.