# Mad Magazine is political? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 10, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220 "2003-12-10T23:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/21 "2003-12-11T00:23:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JRDelirious \* > \*\*This was quite funny – and quite _prescient_ seeing as a REAL Bush-as-fighter-jock action figure just got introduced. \*\* I’m pretty sure it’s a pardoy of the pre-existing figure. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/22 "2003-12-11T00:25:40Z")
Or even a parody. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/23 "2003-12-11T00:27:49Z")
Actually, the aforementioned reactionary figure has been out for a while. Unless you went to the trouble to follow the link, you may not get it. This is pretty heavy shit here, what with the blood-stained hands, and all. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/24 "2003-12-11T00:42:14Z")
Reasons to Pit _Mad Magazine_: [ul][li]They stopped doing intelligent literary parodies in the 50s.[_]Compared with Bill Gaines’ earlier publications, (which were crippled by the Comics Code,) Mad is clearly wank._[_]Mad hasn’t had any balls since they caved into complaints that “Potzrebie” was ethnically insensitive and changed the name of their signature moron to “Alfred E. Newman.”[_]That sketch comedy show that they endorsed, by comparison, makes the print version look like the _National Lampoon_ of the 70s, before _they_ succumbed to the suck.[/ul]Trying to make themselves more relevant doesn’t really register as an offense to me, next to the rest of their sins. Beats the hell out of reprinting stale twenty-year old material, as a few casual thumbings of my friends’ kids’ copies have indicated has been their strategy in the last decade. What the hell is _The Lighter Side of CB Radios_ supposed to communicate to today’s teens?[/li] \*Nod to JRDelirious, on preview. Preach it! “That negro is _sweating_– that’s far too threatening!” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/25 "2003-12-11T00:45:17Z")
Plus that Spiro Agnew guy still works there. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/26 "2003-12-11T02:44:11Z")
MAD was quite influential in my becoming a 10 year oldyippie! I can’t find it in many stores,though. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/27 "2003-12-11T02:56:39Z")
Sergio Aragones was the soul of _Mad_. Once he left, it wasn’t the same. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/28 "2003-12-11T02:58:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > \*\*I can’t find it in many stores,though. \*\* I don’t think you’d want to. They’ve gone downhill ever since they started allowing advertising. You’d be better of with [Totally MAD](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3644603655&category=182). 376 issues! 133 special issues! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/29 "2003-12-11T03:56:53Z")
Totally Mad is cool. I almost fell over when saw this in the store. All the issues from the first until like 1998! All my old MADs from my youth! The issues in-between I missed! Issues from years afterwards! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/30 "2003-12-11T04:10:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by capacitor \* > \*\*Sergio Aragones was the soul of _Mad_. Once he left, it wasn’t the same. \*\* Did you mean Don Martin? I can find no indication that Aragones isn’t still cranking 'em out for MAD. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/31 "2003-12-11T04:11:24Z")
Jah, boss. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/32 "2003-12-11T04:45:26Z")
Several years ago, Don Martin apparently had some kind of salary dispute with the management of MAD. He left on bad terms, and shortly thereafter, popped up working for CRACKED. He released several large-format paperback books of his cartoons, and then, abruptly, died. He’d been with MAD nearly from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/33 "2003-12-11T04:56:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*Jah, boss. \*\* Mumble, you fool! - From “Frank N. Stein” Why do I know that? 🙂 I have to confess finding Mad Magazine was one the first things, that showed me, that freedom of speech was indeed valued in the US. Decades ago, in the old country, publishers of unflattering cartoons would end up dead if they were found to be not funny by the regimes. It showed me that even though groups in the US were supporting criminal regimes in Latin America, that there were indeed other groups opposed to doing that. Of course, I did not limit myself to Mad. Regarding reruns: thanks to Mad, Spiro Agnew and Nixon’s shenanigans were known to me before coming to America, it helped me pass a history class. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/34 "2003-12-11T06:12:51Z")
Blecch ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/35 "2003-12-11T13:49:37Z")
But mainly… ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/36 "2003-12-11T14:50:16Z")
Was Alfred E. Newman’s name ever “Potrzebie”? I seem to remember him always being Newman. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/37 "2003-12-11T14:54:39Z")
Where have you gone, Roger Kaputnik? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/38 "2003-12-11T15:57:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neidhart \* > \*\*Was Alfred E. Newman’s name ever “Potrzebie”? I seem to remember him always being Newman. \*\* According to the book “Completely Mad: A History Of The Book And Magazine” he was called Melvin Coznowski, Mel Haney, and “the What - Me Worry? kid.” No mention of him ever being called “Potrzebie”. “Potrzebie” was frequently used in other contexts, such as the article “The Potrzebie System Of Weights And Measures” from MAD #33, where the basic unit of measure, 1 potrzebie, is equal to the thickness of MAD #26. ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/39 "2003-12-11T16:11:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lucki Chaarms \* > \*\*MAX KORN IN '04 > \*\* Actually, Max Korn is a real person–he’s the grandson of one of the editors, Nick Meglin. Max’s parents go to my parents’ synagogue and my parents have met and befriended Nick. They look for Max’s name in every issue, and have since he was born. Six or seven years ago, Nick decided to thank them by having Duck Edwing put their names in a cartoon for one of his books. It was cool as shit. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220/40 "2003-12-11T18:02:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Road Rash \* > \*\*You have not had much history with MAD magazine. They have pushed the buttons over the years, while still aiming primarily at teenagers. > > \*\* Yeah, exactly. That’s way the dumb kids always read _Cracked_. 😛 I agree that if you’re going to pit MAD for something, it should be for finally accepting advertising after the death of Gaines. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazine-is-political/218220.md?page=3)