It’s been widely reported that MAD magazine is shutting down after 67 years. I read it some from about age 12 to 16, and it was certainly my introduction to political satire and parody as a young teen. I wasn’t a big comic book guy (how curious that so many years later I’d be writing a graphic novel), and MAD was one of the few things in a comic format I read with any regularity.

Thinking back, I realize that MAD was an ad-free publication. They must have sold a lot of subscriptions in their heyday to pay the bills with sales alone. I didn’t always like it, and even within individual issues, I recall appreciating some pieces quite a bit and ignoring others which didn’t seem relevant or interesting to me.

I haven’t looked at a MAD publication in many many years, and when I heard this morning they were shutting down, I realized I didn’t know MAD still existed. I think of it as a cultural staple of my youth, and I appreciate that something like it existed.

Did MAD have any special meaning or importance in your life?