4
votes
What do you guys think about MAD magazine?
I’ve read it all my life. Learned to read on it actually and I’ve collected it too. Probably have one of the bigger collections for an average joe. Apparently it’s been rebooted or something. It’s pretty political, like it’s always been, but I hope it doesn’t go under.
That's hilarious, I was at a party last weekend and MAD magazine came up. As a boomer, MAD was my go to for information (seriously) about what was happening in the adult and R-rated world, however skewed it was. And several at the party had the same memories. I was also a Marvel collector in the days of Marvelmania.
To me both publications were historical points in time where the respective bullpens of artists and other creatives came together in a fantastic burst, similar to the evolvement of the whole Harry Potter phenomenon.
The fact that Stan Lee is still figurehead of Marvel is wonderful, however checkered its past is. With MAD, William Gaines was obviously a very free-spirited creative person. I didn't see the magazine as political as much as satirical and absurdist. It was pretty even handed in it's allocation of satire to all. I've never smoked a banana peel before, but certainly found out about it through Don Martin's cartoons.
I loved MAD as a kid, but hadn't read it in a long time. Does anyone remember those compilation paperbacks they used to put out? I used to get them out of the library all the time, and they were pretty dated at that time (this was the 90s). I remember they were full of LBJ jokes and stuff - I probably picked up a lot of history from them.
I did buy the MAD "reboot" (or is it just a renumbering, back to #1?) It was pretty good actually. It didn't seem like much has changed, still felt like MAD.
I was too young to read MAD growing up, but one day in the drug store I was distracted by a magazine cover with Bill Clinton, Black Spy and White Spy. It was a compilation book of the Spy vs. Spy comic strips and I loved the fun back and forth of their war games. I started to read the magazine more after that.