MAD Magazine announces it will stop publishing original content as of August
Once considered the go-to publication for everything satirical, MAD Magazine is effectively shutting down and will stop publishing original material as of August this year.
The publication has been running for 67 years, founded in 1952 by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, and launched as a comic before it became a magazine.
For almost seven decades, MAD has been taking the mickey out of politicians, pop stars, actors, and general fools who deserve to be satirised.
In June 2017, the publication featured an illustration of Donald Trump with MAD mascot Alfred E. Neuman spiralling out of his head, and boasting the cover-line “A Brilliant Look At Our Brainless President”.
On July 3 2019 it was reported the publication would no longer be sold on newsstands by the end of the year and that special editions would no longer feature new content; instead recycled editorial and illustrations from the past would feature in anything published in the future: “best-of” collections, if you will.
While not actually stating the publication would cease entirely, MAD‘s publishers and editors have announced that fresh work will no longer be commissioned.
Rest in peace, then, MAD. You have made us laugh to the point of shedding tears. And we’ll especially miss your crazy mystery inside-back-cover fold-ins!
Antonino Tati
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