Sunday Mailbag- MAD Ending?

Q: I heard MAD is ending publication?

A: The number one comment from this weekend at New York Comic Con.

Here’s what is actually happening with MAD:

Until recently, there were three ways for you to get the latest printed issue of MAD Magazine: on newsstands, in comic book stores, and in your maiulbox via subscription. Issue #9, which came out back in July, was the last issue of MAD Magazine to be carried on newsstands. Newsstand distribution of the magazine has ended.

Next week MAD #10 will be released. You can get that issue only via subscription or in comic book shops. Issue #10 is a normal issue with all new content. This is not the last issue of MAD, but it is the last issue with all new content in it for now.

In December issue #11 will be released. It is the annual “year end” issue and will have the “MAD 20 Dumbest Events, People and Things of the Year” in it, so a lot of new content.

Going forward, MAD will be a “mix” of new and classic content. How much of a mix is anyone’s guess. Here’s what I know: Sergio’s “A MAD Look At…” will continue with new work. Peter Kuper will do a new “Spy Vs. Spy” in each issue. Beyond that, there will be “some” new content. That might mean several new features or it might mean a bunch of spot cartoons in the letters pages. I know what it does NOT mean: new movie or TV spoofs. Those have very specifically been axed from new content.

The rest of the issue’s pages will be reprinted classic material. I don’t know if any of it will be colorized or if it will run in it’s original black and white.

So, there will continue to be a printed magazine with the title “MAD” out there. It’s up to you to decide if it’s really MAD Magazine or not.

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