# Mad #600 out **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** magazines-newspapers\ **Created:** [July 13, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638 "2026-07-13T11:08:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/1 "2026-07-13T11:08:53Z")
I picked this up today in the local comic store (you used to be able to get Mad at the newsstand, but even the few remaining places selling magazines don’t seem to carry it – only “Special” issues). 1.) Issue #600! They’ve gone back to what they’re calling “legacy numbering”, so instead of "volume 2, issue #50), this is just issue #600. That’s going to screw with obsessive fans. 2.) There’s more new material in this issue than reprints! Mad magazine lives! 3.) It’s the June issue, so it’s been out for a while. > **[MAD Celebrates Its Milestone 600th Issue with All-New Content and Classic...](https://comic-watch.com/news/comic-book-news/mad-celebrates-its-milestone-600th-issue-with-all-new-content-and-classic-favorites)** > > MAD Celebrates Its Milestone 600th Issue with All-New Content and Classic Favorites on shelves and digital platforms from #DCComics 4.) It looks as if, before they decided to go back to “legacy numbering”, they were considering a different cover: > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=Mad+600&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&oq=Mad+600&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTI4MTVqMGoxNagCCLACAfEFJhF1UDuWJmU&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.rb&ie=UTF-8#sv=CAMSZxowKg4tOFE2ZmR6RmVSVmxhTTIOLThRNmZkekZlUlZsYU06DkE4QXY2Y1ViMWMwOV9NIAQqLwobX3Q4WlVhcnFzTzllMHB0UVA4dF9Md1FnXzQ2Eg4tOFE2ZmR6RmVSVmxhTRgAMAEYByDq47n8DkoIEAEYASABKAE)** ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/2 "2026-07-13T22:12:26Z")
After subscribing since 1987, I let my subscription lapse maybe 3 years back. I still look at my old ones from time to time and they still make me laugh, but it had become mostly repeats of stuff I read the 1st time around. Anyone else still reading regularly? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/3 "2026-07-13T23:28:33Z")
I am. There is a little new material in every issue. And, as I say, the current issue is more than 50% new material. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/4 "2026-07-14T10:49:36Z")
I have fond memories of Mad. As a wee lad, when we visited my aunt, I saw that as an opportunity to sit on the floor of the closet next to my older cousin’s stack of Mads. These were late-to mid 1960s issues. I was in heaven. (He also had a stack of Playboys nearby, not that Young Master Mustard ever went near them) 🙂 mmm ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/5 "2026-07-14T12:03:19Z")
> [@](#): > > _MAD_ #600 features a wraparound cover illustrated by legendary _MAD_ artist Sergio Aragonés… Readers will also find an all-new Fold-In Well, that at least partially answers a couple of questions I had: is there anybody still involved that I would remember from my days reading Mad, and did the Fold-in survive the death of Al Jaffee? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/6 "2026-07-14T13:13:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > did the Fold-in survive the death of Al Jaffee? There have been quite a few fold-ins not by Al Jaffee, and they started before he left us (although he did leave a last fold-in that I believe was run in the special Al Jaffee tribute issue) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/7 "2026-07-15T04:41:51Z")
Mad Magazine has never been as funny as when I was 13. I suspect thats the case for many people no matter what year they were born. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/8 "2026-07-15T10:47:38Z")
Mad has always had a reputation as a kid’s magazine. It certainly caters to a certain age group and, heck, it started out as a standard-size comic book. But, at the same time, it’s pretty clear that Mad has also had plenty of material aimed at older audiences. Like the article about dating widows/divorcees. Or the parodies of movies that kids were unlikely to have seen (_The Carpetbaggers, Midnight Cowboy, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, The Sandpiper_, …I could go on). Or the interview with the sleazy paperback publisher that pretty much assumes familiarity with those sleazy paperbacks. Or Al Jaffee’s “spread the wealth” piece about filing income tax reports. Or Sy Reit’s “Get it Out of your System Land.” Granted, those were mor common in the 1960s, but Mad always did put in something to cater to and appease older audiences. And it didn’t hurt the younger ones to learn about how insane the adult world was, even to adults. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/9 "2026-07-15T11:07:54Z")
I had a subscription back in the mid-1960s when MAD #100 came out. Gold cover, with the words “MAD proudly presents its 100th issue” and underneath that, Alfred E. Neuman with his usual grin saying “Big deal!” So now it’s up to #600, huh? I didn’t even know that it was still around. Good for them! And Sergio Aragones is still drawing for them, six decades later? Wow! ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/10 "2026-07-15T16:42:49Z")
I only know about a lot of movies specifically because of the Mad parody. I remember getting my magazine taken away because I laughed out loud reading it during class, and then hearing the teacher laugh at it as he read it during a test. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/11 "2026-07-16T06:24:03Z")
A question - [are they still really socking it to that Spiro Agnew guy?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq2wdh2wKvI) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/12 "2026-07-16T07:41:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Or Sy Reit’s “Get it Out of your System Land.” I remember that one. Illustrated by George Woodbridge. Just a big two-page splash of what looks like a carnival. Look closer, and the booths are not typical carnival games. Rather, they are things like “Punch the Boss,” with a player hauling off and punching an inflatable boss effigy; “Bull in a China Shop,” where you could break all the china and crystal on display; and “Demolition Derby” in the background, where you could get all of your road rage out before the term “road rage” was even invented. There were plenty of others, where you could basically take out your frustration on just about anything. A great item. Bob Clarke was another illustrator whose work I enjoyed. He’d worked in advertising, and was great with ad parodies, but he did plenty of “Behind the Scenes at …” items. I thought that Mad had stopped publishing, but I guess they can do as they like. I’ll look forward to getting Issue 600. As you infer, you’re never too old for Mad. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/13 "2026-07-16T11:58:59Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I remember that one. Illustrated by George Woodbridge. Just a big two-page splash of what looks like a carnival. Look closer, and the booths are not typical carnival games. Rather, they are things like “Punch the Boss,” with a player hauling off and punching an inflatable boss effigy; “Bull in a China Shop,” where you could break all the china and crystal on display; and “Demolition Derby” in the background, where you could get all of your road rage out before the term “road rage” was even invented. There were plenty of others, where you could basically take out your frustration on just about anything. A great item. There was more – a booth where you could put on big muddy boots and stomp around on a white ug. And a photobooth where you could be photographed as our favorite evil person from the past. The sign lists "Hitler…Stalin’…Attila the Hun… " and …Sy Reit. Who the hell was Sy Reit? I scanned the picture and saw his name listed as the writer for that piece. That’s the first time I recall seeing his name, and why I remember it. Seymour Victory Reit, among other things the original writer (and possibly the co-creator of) Caspar the Friendly Ghost: > **[Seymour Reit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Reit)** > > Seymour Victory Reit (/riːt/; 11 November 1918 – 21 November 2001) was an American author of over 80 children's books as well as several works for adults. Reit claimed to be the creator of the character Casper the Friendly Ghost, and several co-workers supported his claim, though cartoonist Joe Oriolo, who drew the first Casper book, claimed that he created Casper and Reit wrote the book under his direction. Reit started his career working for Fleischer Studios as an animator; he also wo Reit was... George Woodbridge was an interesting character, as well. Many years ago I visited the National Heritage Museum in Lexington MA (now the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum) and noticed that the drawings of soldiers were uncannily familiar. Then I suddenly realized that they were in the style of the Mad illustrator. Woodbridge was known as “America’s Dean of Uniform Illustration” because of his expertise and knowledge of military dress. And not just military – when Mad magazine featured Noah (of the Arc) doing a rap song, Woodbrodge drew him, and I noticed that the clothing was exact and historically – well, likely, if not necessarily accurate – right down to the lovingly-rendered shoes the patriarch was wearing. Woodbridge was especially well-known for one of my all-time favorite Mad pieces “43 man Squamish” > **[George Woodbridge (illustrator)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Woodbridge_(illustrator))** > > George Woodbridge (October 3, 1930 – January 20, 2004) was an American illustrator known for his exhaustive research and historical accuracy, and for his 44-year run as a contributor to MAD Magazine. He was sometimes referred to as "America's Dean of Uniform Illustration" because of his expertise in drawing military uniforms. Born in Flushing, Queens, Woodbridge studied illustration at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts. In later years, he lived on Staten Island, where he created his detailed dra... ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/14 "2026-07-17T16:49:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Mad has always had a reputation as a kid’s magazine. It certainly caters to a certain age group and, heck, it started out as a standard-size comic book. A few years back (maybe 15+ years at this point), I picked up an old Mad Magazine from the late 60s or early 70s and ran across a cartoon that floored me. Tarzan was swinging through the jungle when a Black Tarzan passes him going in the opposite direction. When Tarzan returns to his treehouse he immediately puts out a “For Sale” sign. I was a little surprised to see such a sensitive subject used as fodder in the magazine, but then it had been 20+ years since I had last picked up an issue at that point. Color me surprised to learn that Mad was still publishing anything. I thought they canceled all of that years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-600-out/1031638/15 "2026-07-17T17:36:10Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Color me surprised to learn that Mad was still publishing anything. I thought they canceled all of that years ago. I remember people saying this in the 90s.