The publication was founded in 1952 by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, but it was Al Feldstein, who took over for Kurtzman and led the magazine for almost 30 years, who brought the outlet to national -- and international -- prominence, especially in the 1970s.
It peaked at 2.8 million subscribers in 1973, but had just 140,000 left as of 2017.
As news of the magazine's closure trickled across the internet, several contributors eulogized the publication. David DeGrand, a writer and artist who contributed to the magazine, was one of the first to confirm on Twitter the magazine was ending as rumors began to grow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 05 2019, @03:54AM (3 children)
From that headline's phrasing, can we expect to see future issues containing old content, then? It's been running long enough that old content would be new to younger readers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 05 2019, @04:04AM
Reruns. B.o.ring. yawn. What me worry.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 05 2019, @06:51AM
MAD magazine had been reusing content for quite awhile, but in the issues they did, they always had some new content to go along with it. Now it seems that they will follow the model of Tupac and dinosaur rock band re-releases and greatest-hits albums.
As a MAD magazine fan, whose read some of the old-skool original paperbacks, I find this news to be saddening and symbolic in the sense of the comic book where Captain America dies. Mad magazine, although staffed by lots of Jews, was a unique fixture of the American culture of defiance. Let's hope that suitable alternatives will arise in the era of backlash against liberal authoritarian cocksuckers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 05 2019, @08:30PM
Yeah, today's youngsters will get a kick about all those Spiro T. Agnew jokes.