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U.S. NEWS Friday 5 July 2019

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MAD magazine leaving newsstands after 67-year run (Really!)

By RACHEL LERMAN reference.”
Associated Press Cartoonist Evan Dorkin,
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — who worked for MAD, wrote
MAD, the long-running on Twitter that the maga-
satirical magazine that in- zine was long a source of
fluenced everyone from happiness and inspiration
“Weird Al” Yankovic to the for him.
writers of “The Simpsons,” “I hope we provided some
will be leaving newsstands smiles to some readers of
after its August issue. Really. the past 12 yrs,” he wrote.
The illustrated humor mag- The magazine changed as
azine — instantly recogniz- its circumstances did, he
able by the gap-toothed wrote, including when the
smiling face of mascot magazine began printing
Alfred E. Neuman — will advertisements in 2001 and
still be available in comic when it moved from New
shops and through mail to York City to Burbank, Cali-
subscribers. But after its fall fornia, at the end of 2017.
issue it will just reprint previ- That move warped MAD’s
ously published material. identity, Dorkin said.
The only new material will MAD was long a venue for
come in special editions at comic artists and cartoon-
the end of the year. ists to grow artistically and
DC, the division of War- In this July 20, 2017 file photo the face of Alfred E. Neuman is framed by attendees at the DC booth shape national conversa-
ner Brothers that publishes during the first day of Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, tion. Well-known names
the magazine, said MAD Calif. such as Al Jaffee, Harvey
will pull from nostalgic car- Associated Press Kurtzman and Mort Drucker
toons and parodies pub- fellow popular magazine on Twitter for its inspiring ef- tional thing,” Buttigieg told were associated with the
lished over the magazine’s Playboy, with its Fold-In fea- fect on eras of comedy. Politico . “I didn’t get the magazine for decades.q
67-year run. ture that appeared in near- “There was a moment in
As Neuman would say, ly every issue. But instead so many of our childhoods
“What, me worry?” Worry of featuring scantily-clad where you were the great-
not, for MAD has more models, the Fold-In printed est thing ever,” he wrote.
than 550 issues packed full — what else? — another Comedian Harry Shearer,
of political parodies and joke. DC will keep publish- the voice of several char-
edgy humor to pull from. ing MAD special collec- acters on “The Simpsons,”
The magazine set itself tions and books. cracked on Twitter: “An
apart as a cultural bea- Illustrators and comedians, American institution has
con for decades with its including one-time guest closed. And who wants to
unabashed tendency to editor Yankovic, mourned live in an institution?”
make fun of anything and the magazine’s effective When President Donald
push conventional bound- closure. Trump referred to Demo-
aries. One of MAD’s best “It’s pretty much the rea- cratic presidential can-
known comic series, Spy son I turned out weird,” he didate Pete Buttigieg as
vs. Spy, featured two spies wrote on Twitter. Neuman, while insisting he
with beak-like faces and Josh Weinstein, a writer wouldn’t be fit to serve as
big eyes — costumes that and producer of “The president, the 37-year-old
are still regularly worn on Simpsons” — which has ref- candidate said he had to
Halloween. erenced MAD many times Google the reference.
It even seemingly parodied — thanked the magazine “I guess it’s just a genera-

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