Mad | 
| Publisher: E.C. Publications, Inc.
List Price: $47.88
Buy New: $20.00
You Save: $27.88 (58%)
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 181
Format: Magazine Subscription
Type: Consumer magazine
Subscription Issues: 12
Subscription Length: 12 Months
Issues Per Year: 12
First Issue Lead Time: 6-10 Weeks
ASIN: B000063XJT
Release Date: March 15, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 3 months
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Product Description
Now in color and celebrating its 50th idiotic year, MAD is America's foremost magazine of biting social parody, political humor and world class stupidity. Only in MAD will you find outrageous movie and TV spoofs, the fiendishly absurd adventures of Spy vs. Spy and Al Jaffee's legendary Fold-In!
Abstract
Provides provocative therapy ideas & methods that work with families, individuals & groups.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Parody Central February 4, 2005
Lonnie E. Holder (Sullivan, Illinois United States)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
There are a few written sources of parody and satire available in the United States; "The Onion," "Cracked" and "National Lampoon" are all sources of both. Of the three, "National Lampoon" is a relatively sophisticated magazine that started with a largely college audience and retains its college focus today, though its movies appeal to a much wider audience. "The Onion" is a newspaper type format that tends to be less subtle than "National Lampoon." Both "The Onion" and "National Lampoon" contain graphic art, but are principally article-based.
"Cracked" and "Mad" are both graphic based. Of the two, I have seen descriptions of "Cracked" that included phrases such as "low-budget Mad Magazine." Unfortunately, for a short time "Cracked" even suspended production. On the other hand, "Mad" has been around continuously since the mid-50s, and while its affect on readers is reduced from the days when its views were often seen as at least controversial, its readership remains high along with the magazine's ability to keep a good level of humor.
Original editor William Gaines's desire was that "Mad" not accept any advertising to allow the magazine to satirize anyone without fear of reprisal. The magazine kept this tradition until relatively recently, when it began accepting a limited number of advertisements. About the same time the magazine also started using color in portions. The addition of color was enjoyable. The acceptance of advertisements remains concerning, though I have yet to see any real affect on "Mad's" satires and parodies.
Many of "Mad's" features have existed for decades. The miniature cartoons in the margins have existed as long as I have read "Mad," which is back into the 60s. "Spy vs. Spy," the fold-in at the back of the magazine, and "A Look at the Lighter Side of..." have all been long running features. More recently the magazine has added "Monroe," and "The Fundalini Pages," which combines and reduces some previous features along with the addition of new elements, as regular features.
One of the best features of "Mad" remains poking fun at current television shows and movies. While "Mad" is limited to poking fun at one or two movies per month, usually the selected movies were popular either with audiences or the critics and thus likely to be a movie that readers would recognize. "Harry Potter," "Star Wars," "Star Trek," and "The Godfather" are just a small sample of the hundreds of movies that have been honored by a "Mad Magazine" parody. There are a few clunkers in the pantheon of parodies portrayed in "Mad," nearly every one has at least a few good one-liners and most can cause at least a good chuckle, if not an outright laugh. Similarly, the most popular television shows get their turn, and the characteristics of each show are satirized to a usually humorous extreme.
The official mascot of "Mad" remains Alfred E. Newman, the perennially freckle-faced "What, me worry?" representative of the general silliness of us, if we only look at ourselves properly. As others in numerous locations have point out, there are a variety of famous people who bear a remarkable likeness to Alfred E. Newman, and more than one of those famous characters depicted in "Mad" have had their features manipulated ever so subtly to enhance that resemblance. I will leave it to the reader to discover who those famous people might be.
"Mad Magazine" is probably the oldest continuous source of parody and satire available. "Mad" has inspired artists, writers, and imitators. I found it to be a fun magazine as a teenage boy and to my surprise I found that reading it today nearly 40 years after my first exposure to "Mad" is almost as enjoyable as it was then. As with any magazine of any type, especially a magazine attempting to be humorous, there are jokes that fall flat, and occasionally jokes that are sufficiently obscure to leave some readers wondering what was funny, but most jokes are readily understandable. Some will bring a groan because they are so bad. Some will bring a "ewwwww" because they are "potty humor." But there are real gems among the jokes that will bring a smile to your face, and occasionally a laugh that must be out loud. "Mad Magazine" is a wonderful way to put a uniquely graphic and humorous spin on the events occurring around us. I hope that I will always be able to appreciate the humor that the magazine attempts to portray, and that I never take life too seriously.
 This is not Mad. This is something else. April 5, 2006
Francisco Huerta (Mexico)
12 out of 16 found this review helpful
Mad was the Harvey Kurtzman comic book. It was the black and white magazine of people like DeBartolo, Drucker, Jaffee, Gaines, Don Martin, Duck Edwing, Prohias, etc.
This is not Mad. This is a very sad, very bad parody of what Mad was from the 50's right to the 80's.
Mad stood for something back then. It stood against the stupidity of everyday life. Against the sleazy advertisers who merely wanted to make a quick buck out of us. They didn't disguise their own intentions, though - we were labeled "suckers" for paying 90c for the magazine (cheap!), too.
We had social satire. Mad blasted the GOP and the democratic party with the most biting, sarcastic and insightful captions to photos ever.
What do we have now? A full center section of Mad "reviews" for products (which seem to be press releases for products). This kind of stuff seems like a parody the old Mad would make of itself - sadly, it's no parody at all. We have ads for Xbox games. Ads for corn products. Spy vs. Spy - which has nothing to do with Prohias anymore. No more Dave Berg (well, duh). No more attacks against the media - since Mad now depends on it to survive.
True, Mort Drucker is still there, as is John Caldwell. Aragones does some drawings every now and then. But, trust me - you'd be better off trying to find a "Totally Mad" CD compilation (why did it go out of print? I'm glad I got it just as soon as it came out - complete with Mad toilet paper!), and reading the REAL Mad for the rest of your life.
I'm sure Gaines is rolling in his grave.
 Are You Missing a Cover? July 15, 2008
Sarah M. Puglisi (United States)
12 out of 35 found this review helpful
I think it's possible my brother thought this was acceptable for submission as "fictional reading" in our high school summer requirements, I recall that told around the campfires. Thus bumping him to the dodos grouping where he was to learn about verbs and how to use them for the next 5 or so years. Where he also did not have to write research papers, essays, narratives or do anything that resembled my world there letting blood with Paradise Lost, Passage to India or Chaucer and chivalry and love that never dies.
Yes, Mad will ever be the place he looked to for news and views, about the towns and I suspect the finer points of sex ed., business acumen and how to pick a good college to drop out of three times.
This said I think one of their covers has gone and wrapped itself around the New Yorker. Which is, when you think about it understandable if you think of it this way.....a massive case of cover envy.
Take a good look at the way Mrs. Obama is drawn. See?
Just saying.
I wonder how it will be when the New Yorker cover turns up on Mad. Is it April 1st, am I time warping? Is Hillary, or the Mr. Bill, out with a little time on their hands?
Hum.
Can't live without it. November 3, 2002
The No Evil Killer (Everywhere, Anywhere, Nowhere)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
MAD shows us what is wrong with the world. It takes serious subjects and ridiculous media claptrap and makes it all seem so stupid and idiotic. Well, it usually IS anyway but MAD is always the first to point this out. No one is safe. Politics, TV, movies, music and current affairs get get it every month. I have been reading MAD since I was 5 (Alfred E. Neuman used to scare the hell out of me) and I have it to thank for turning me into the bitter, cynical individual I am now. Plus these guys have no inflated opinion of themselves, which helps cancels out their crudeness and obvious finger pointing. Now in it's 50th year MAD shows no signs of losing steam. In 2000 they started to accept ads into their pages but this is the only MAJOR difference in the past few years. As long as they never get rid of Spy vs Spy I'm okay. There are somethings that'll never change in MAD. Like the fold in. It's just not MAD without the fold in.
 Incurably MAD November 14, 2002
Zagnorch (Terra, Sol System)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
Before I discovered The Onion , MAD Magazine was the one and only satirical publication I'd pick up on a regular basis. And even though I'm not too hot with the format changes the mag's gone through over the past few years (full-color articles and movie satires, real advertisements), I still enjoy it for its silly and often downright-dumb humor. I'm probably one of the few people who actually enjoys reading the Monroe strip! But topping my list of fave MAD articles: Melvin & Jenkins , a twisted take-off on the classic Goofus & Gallant life-lessons from Highlights For Children . I just wished they'd retired the Spy Vs. Spy series after the retirement and death of creator Antonio Prohias. The new guys workin' on it ain't quite as inspired...Now, if only I can figure out a way to do those Al Jaffee Fold-Ins without tearin' up the back cover somethin' fierce... `Late
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