What, Me Worry? MAD Magazine Going Quarterly

theodp writes "MAD Magazine is about to put out its 500th issue, but starting with its April publication, the mag is cutting down to only four issues per year. The feedback we've gotten from readers,' quipped Editor John Ficarra, 'is that only every third issue of MAD is funny, so we've decided to just publish those.' MAD Kids and MAD Classics are ceasing publication entirely. Keep up the what-me-worry game face, Alfred!"

Comments

Re:This sucks.. I hope they make the mag 200+ page

[jfim]

From TFA:

On the bright side, anyone with a subscription to Mad will find that it now lasts longer.

I stopped reading it

[mangu]

I stopped reading Mad when Don Martin died. His cartoons were pure, unadulterated, fun. He had that rare insight that humor must be fun, it needs not always carry a transcendental message...

Re:This sucks.. I hope they make the mag 200+ page

[Ron Bennett]

8 more pages per issue (48 to 56) is what I've read.

The change to quarterly shifts their nearly inevitable demise a little further into the future; to next year, if they're lucky.

Ron

Re:Sad sign on the status of comedy

[popmaker]

On the lighter side though, we now have www.cracked.com. Cracked used to be a kind of a Mad rip-off, but is now doing fantastic as an internet magazine.

Re:Sad sign on the status of comedy

[DerekLyons]

Whomever tagged this "nothing of value was lost" needs a history lesson. Mad has its original roots as a satire of horror comics today. Mad Magazine still exists, and so do a lot of your tenets of free speech with comics and video games, because Bill Gaines stood up to those who wanted to censor horror comics, against those who were "thinking of the children."

Methinks it's you who need a history lesson.
 
Bill Gaines lost that fight and comics were censored for decades because of it. His 'standing up' accomplished nothing. Bill was forced to concentrate on Mad because the other comics in his line were censored out of existence.

Re:the timing makes sense

[Lord Apathy]

Once again Mad nails it right on the head. I'm going to get that issue and frame it.

Re:Magazines are dying as a format.

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Whatever happened to Mad TV?

It's still there on Saturday nights, but it sold out a long time ago.