A wonderful ‘tribute’ to Mad Magazine in The New Yorker.
Mad magazine is sadly coming to an end. After 67 years (it started in 1952).
The June, 1954, cover was styled like a literary journal, so that readers “ashamed to read this comic-book in subways and like that†could make “people think you are reading high-class intellectual stuff instead of miserable junk.â€
The New Yorker
As part of reading through the history of Mad I was intrigued to learn that in 1954 there was a United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency enquiry into the harmful effects of comics:
The event took place on April 21, 1954, at the Foley Square U.S. Courthouse in New York City, where a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee charged with investigating the causes of juvenile delinquency took on an imminent danger within: the comic-book industry. The hearings were televised.
The New Yorker
I suspect most of my readers have fond memories of Mad magazine from our childhoods. The joy of a new cover, a new Spy v Spy, and perhaps most importantly the back cover folding reveal.
Farewell Mad.
