Sunday Mailbag- Future of MAD?

Q: I saw DC Comics just did another big round of layoffs… how does this affect MAD?

A: Last week there was another bloodbath at DC Entertainment/Warner Bros where many long-time and/or high ranking executives and editors were shown the door. This after 2018’s purge of many vice-presidents and the firing of co-publisher Dan DiDio back in February.

How does this affect MAD Magazine? Not much, since there really isn’t a MAD Magazine anymore. Prior to his latest round of layoffs and restructuring, MAD had already been turned into a publication of nothing but reprint material under a new cover and with a new Fold-In, and maybe the occasional new piece from a drawer of unpublished-but-already-paid-for material. The magazine’s staff had already been reduced to three people (from eight in the last NYC issue, and twelve in 2000). Newsstand distribution stopped as of Aug 2019. Even MAD‘s social media content has all but disappeared in the last several months.

None of the current MAD staff was let go in this latest round of firings, although the person who was their direct “boss” at DC, Hank Kanalz, was laid off. I suspect MAD will continue in its present form indefinitely, keeping the “brand” alive (if only on life support) until they cease publication entirely or they license the magazine out to another publisher to produce. That last scenario is unlikely, IMO, because DC would not want to leave the liability inherent in a humor magazine up to a third party when DC would ultimately be on the hook for anything deemed offensive, and the sales potential/profitability of any magazine/comic like MAD is not strong enough to attract a third party to spend the dough needed to produce it.

I think the MAD you will start seeing as of #16 in October will be exactly what you can expect to see under the MAD logo from now on.

Thanks to G Jonen for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!