New MAD Magazine material draws to a conclusion

Iconic humour publication MAD Magazine is saying goodbye to newsstands.

MAD’s Alfred E. Neuman character dominates a wall at a Comic-Con festival in San Diego, California. Picture: AP

Iconic humour publication MAD Magazine is saying goodbye to newsstands.

Starting with issue No 10, which goes on sale in October, the magazine will be available only in comic-book stores and will also be mailed directly to subscribers, sources said. As of issue No 11, MAD will no longer publish new, original content with the exception of end-of-year specials.

MAD will instead republish parodies and other material from issues published earlier during its 67-year history — although the covers will be new.

The magazine restarted its issue sequence in April 2018.

Its many fans admired MAD’s political spoofs and its beloved mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, together with his slogan, “What, me worry?” The Paris Review noted that the “impish, immutable redhead made his official debut in December 1956, when he appeared on the cover of MAD No 30 as a write-in candidate for president”.

“There’s a life cycle for everything,” said Samir Husni, director of the University of Mississippi’s Magazine Innovation Centre. “When was the last time you heard somebody mention MAD Magazine?” He added that in the first six months of 2019, 77 new magazines were launched in the US. “There’s no shortage of magazines,” he said.

MAD Magazine was in the news recently when Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said he didn’t know who Alfred E. Neuman was after President Donald Trump had likened the two.

MAD Magazine, which is published by DC, part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia, underwent a reboot last year when its operations were relocated to Burbank, California, where DC is based, from New York City.

Newsstand sales declined, leading to the decision to end its newsstand presence and focus on publishing older material.