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Today won't end. Goodbye, MAD Magazine. As a youngster I was a huge fan of the 70's era, as a young adult I rediscovered the 50's comics, as an old nerd I somehow became a contributor (often working w/@colorkitten) for the last decade +. Getting the e-mail today was crushing.
Grateful to @dantelfer for our gig during the L.A. era. Grateful to everyone for so many opportunities in NYC. It was a dream, a blast and a decent paycheck. MAD still sells more copies than most comics, but obviously that isn't enough with overhead and quarterly bean counting.
I don't feel bad for myself, we were discussing new work but nothing set or soon. We had a good run. Seeing MAD close down hurts, especially during a morbidly depressing year for cartoonists and the comics industry in general. And my heart goes out to the Usual Gang freelancers.
As institutions go MAD had an amazing run. It helped breed smartass cynical stupid-smart humor, pop-culture drenched, dealing, using, shrugging. When it accepted advertising part of it died. When it left NYC, it's identity warped. These things happen, like death & cancellations.
I can't believe I worked for MAD. I was always proud of this, even my impostor issues couldn't entirely block the feeling whenever a new gig happened, an issue printed, I saw our names. I was still at the Stupid Kid's table in the corner beside the Usual Gang. Holy shit & thanks.
I get it that MAD is struggling towards 70 and things have changed and are changing, I realize humor/media influenced by MAD outpaced MAD decades ago. So it goes. But I hope MAD publishes something someday with some new material. And I hope everyone involved lands on their feet.
MAD gave me a lot of happiness as a reader in my childhood and as an obsessive cartoonist poring over the work of Elder, Wood, Kurtzman, Aragones, Prohias, Jaffee, etc etc et al. I hope we provided some smiles to some readers of the past 12 yrs. Thanks to those who told us "yes".
It's wild that Al Jaffee outlasted MAD as a living entity. I wish others were still here as well to raise a seltzer bottle. And I wish MAD would hire Jaffee to do the cover for the last original issue of the magazine. Because, for all intents and purposes, MAD is folding. #hooha
