Did you used to read MAD magazine?

Question

I tried to look up MAD magazine only to find out it has ceased publication 5 years ago. This is a sad commentary on our society. It was a satirical look at American life. It poked fun of modern culture often showing us our own absurdities. Maybe it could not survive because our civilization has just gotten too absurd. For those who remember MAD take a moment to tell the class what your favorite part was.

Daniela1982 · Accepted Answer

I used to buy them. At the end they had too much advertising and the old artists were gone. That is probably why they went out. I still have a big box of them in the garage. The older ones from the early days can be pretty valuable. I used to like the fold-outs where you fold it to make a picture different.  Copy cat!

dustybiker2 · Accepted Answer

I think it was the popularity growth of the internet that killed it. Most magazines went the same way.

Cinematic Lily · Accepted Answer

Oh, MAD magazine! Just thinking about it brings back a rush of nostalgia. I used to snatch up every issue I could find. 📰💭 Alfred E. Neuman’s mischievous grin and the witty satires were irresistible. One of my favorite parts was definitely the "Spy vs. Spy" series. The continuous battle of wits between the black and white spies was just genius. And who could forget the "Fold-ins" by Al Jaffee? They were like a secret code you’d unravel, revealing a hidden punchline or commentary.

It’s really sad that it ceased publication, but its influence on satire and pop culture won’t be forgotten. Maybe the world has indeed gotten too absurd for MAD’s level of satire, but its sharp wit and clever humor will forever be missed. Rest In Peace, MAD. 🖤

FunkyMonkee · Answer

I started collecting in `69 or `70 with the Barbra Streisand issue and then found a place where I can get loads of back issues! My earliest issue was number 28, The Spring Issue, the third one in magazine form. I stopped collecting when they were getting to be the ridiculous price of $3.50 per issue!! In the `90's, I guess, I said I would stop collecting when the last of their original contributors stopped contributing. As far as I know, that was Al Jaffee. Well, he continued long after I gave up on the mag!!
Being kicked out of my house 4 years ago, I ended up losing about 50 to 100 issues! Thankfully, a few years before that, I bought a copy of the DVD-ROM version of every issue up to about the late `90's, I guess. I started reading it but only got about half way through the comic book era before life got in the way.
In `73, I think, I started collection National Lampoon, too. The Pubescence Issue. Probably their most famous cover. In `82, my guitarist gave me his entire `poon collection all the way back to number 1! Again, I never got the chance to read all of them before life got in the way and then, I lost ALL of them when my ex-sisters had me evicted from MY house 4 years ago!! And, again, I recently found 2 versions of the DVD-ROM versions of the regular issues but, so far, nobody's got one (that I know of) that has all their special issues, too. AND, again, I still haven't had a chance to read them, yet. Especially now that 3 of my ex-cousins are trying to have me evicted from THIS house!! The next court date in the 11th.
One copy of the DVD includes the High School Yearbook Parody, that's the only reason I bought that after already buying the other copy.
By the way, my guitarist also gave me every issue of Rolling Stone he had, all the way back to number 1!! Sadly, dad threw them all away a few years later!! Apparently, I'm not allowed to collect magazines!!
I think the reason they ended it was because nobody could or would pay that fucking much for not much more than a comic book! Basically, they were slitting their own throats! However, at least twice in the past two years, they HAVE published a couple issues only available at Barnes & Nobels. Still 4 or 5 dollars per issue. I know of at least two but have no idea how long they did this.
My fave parts: Don Martin! All Jaffee, Spy Vs. Spy, Hawks & Doves, the fold-ins, Aragones, Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions, and probably a couple other bits I forgot about because I haven't seen them in decades. I HATED the Dave Berg section!! I couldn't stand the way he drew them and the jokes were usually VERY predictable.

ChinaGrove · Answer

Lady 1: How’s your daughter doing?

Lady 2: Horrible. She married a lazy bum that expects her to wait on him hand and foot, while he doesn’t lift a finger.

Lady 2 : How’s your son doing?

Lady 1. : He met the nicest girl who waits on him hand and foot while he doesn’t lift a finger.

Lady 2: That’s so awesome.

___________

That’s the clever satire of that magazine.

You either get it or you don't. Biden voters wouldn't get anything.

It was on par with Gary Larson.

Biden voter.

Part2603 · Answer

I used to love Mad Magazine. I remember when I was a lad I used to love to read it in at the grocery store. My teacher gifted me a stack of old Mad Magazines. I actually subscribed back in 2015 because I got a good deal on it. Unfortunately by then it had turned woke and was just non stop TDS. Shame. They shutdown not long after.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

There was a German MAD Magazine, that had some content from the US Original, but apart from that was independent. I had a school friend that bought it and I read it sometimes. It wasn’t really my thing, but it was a huge success in the 1970s and 80s. They stopped its publication in 1995.

RingOfFire · Answer

I didn't read it but a cousin who I grew up with like a brother read every issue. I looked at them now and then when we were together. And I remember when it ceased publication. It kind of made me sad because it was part of my youth and reminded me of my cousin. Fortunately he's still alive and we're still very close.

He's one of the greatest people I know. And it's interesting that I can see all the things in his childhood but shaped him that way because I was there. I would say Mad Magazine, in whatever small way, was one of the thousands of things that influenced his personality.

It really was a masterpiece of thinking and had meaning when a lot of different levels. It was a brilliant piece of work.

Red_Arrow · Answer

It showed us the absurdities of what we have become. And that is what probably killed it. When an American president tried to end democracy, kill the vice president, become a king instead of a president, and managed to get a cult of brain dead people to follow him, MAD knew it could not come up with anything more absurd than that and pulled their plug. And that definitely was the time frame MAD collapsed.

Lliam · Answer

I loved it when I was in grammar school. By high school I started reading Playboy. When High Times came out, I read that, too.

Wiredone · Answer

I used to read it so many years ago. I totally forgot about it until I saw your question.

Fireguy17 · Answer

Oh ya. I even had an Alfred E Neuman for president bumper sticker.

AviatorTom · Answer

It was one of my favorite magazines growing up. Loved Spy vs Spy, and always had fun folding the back cover into a different scene.

Nikki1989 · Answer

I have read it, but I was more of a fan of Viz.

MacDaddyRico · Answer

As a ten year old growing up in NYC, I used to always spend my paper route profits on this magazine.

WindAtMyBack · Answer

Yea, but then I moved on to the Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, Mr Natural and a bunch of other hippie and drug oriented comics.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

yepp

Iron_Man · Answer

At camp only from The other campers

Dargil · Answer

I have seen prehistoric issues of Mad out of the 50's and 60's. They were prophetic. Furd. Mainly.

SkatPak392 · Answer

I used to read them in the 90s at Knapp Branch Library.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

Spy vs. Spy!

lorenzomichael · Answer

Fuck no that shit was retarded.

OtterMan68 · Answer

yes, and  Cracked

nawtee_me · Answer

I loved the centerfolds…

noohair · Answer

A long time ago. All magazines have suffered.

onedarkcloud · Answer

I always love SPY vs SPY!

Did you used to read MAD magazine?

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