Cracked/Mad Feud Reaches Fever Pitch

Sylvester P. Smythe was seen slapping Alfred E. Neuman with the backs of his hands yesterday, as the decades-old feud between Cracked & Mad continued its bloody reign.

News of Mad Magazine's recent hardships only added gasoline to what has already been a dark spot in the usually sunny world of humor periodicals. Cracked, (which is actually no longer a periodical) (which also actually hasn't even used Sylvester P. Smythe in years) tried to send an olive branch of sorts to Mad in the form of a post written by Daniel O'Brien.

Entitled, "Cracked Officially Starts Feeling Sorry for MAD Magazine," the post is a love-letter of sorts to the magazine that started America laughing more than fifty years ago.

"I wanted to reach out to you, but I just got so busy; see, we were installing hot tubs in all of the Cracked offices at the time, which required a ton of my attention, (you can’t install hot tubs within five feet of a chocolate fountain, which we’d just installed in October). They’re kind of tacky, I know, but we had some extra cash so why not, right?"

O'Brien also gives us a glimpse into the rich history the two humor magazines share:

"Oh, but one more real quick thing. As different as we are, (in terms of success, our adaptability with regards to the shifting trends in media, our superior sexual behavior), we do have one similarity. According to legend, longtime MAD editor William Gaines reportedly kept a voodoo doll in his office, in which he would stick pins, all labeled as various MAD “imitators,” (Cracked, Sick, The New York Times), and he would remove a pin whenever one of these imitators would stop publishing or disappear. At the time of Gaines’ death, there was only one pin left, and it was labeled “Cracked."

Which, of course, brought to mind:


It is my belief that only Obnoxio the Clown can bring these two sides together and restore the friendly rivalry they shared in the good old days, the days of reading material made of paper.

Keep Mad TV On The Air And Cancel SNL Instead!

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of the sketch comedy show Mad TV. I thought the show was great, and as of late more enjoyable than Saturday Night Live. In fact, when we record both Mad TV and SNL on the DVR, I can only sit through the former in its entirety.

I think a lot of it has to do with Mad TV being less of a cult of personality than SNL. SNL has felt for a long time (and maybe forever) as a place where one potential solo character or catchphrase gets debuted after another -- on purpose, as the driving force of the show. As if the personality of the characters and the performers take center stage, as if the moment we see Will Ferrell on screen should be funny in-and-of-itself -- because it's Will Ferrell!

Now Mrs. Swan will never get her own movie.

By contrast, the actors and actresses on Mad TV are chameleons, more or less egoless personages who sacrifice mugging to the camera and getting their closeup (and movie spinoff) for the greater good of the sketch. On Mad TV, the content of the sketches themselves are what drives the show, with the cult of personality coming second (or third, or never). (There were several recurring characters, like Mrs. Swan and Stuart, but they were not the focus of the show.) In that sense, I see Mad TV being far more the child of SCTV than SNL.

Anyway, sorry to see the show go. Hope the actors still get work on those spoof movies. Saw half the cast on "Meet The Spartans" yesterday and I laughed until I cried (though sometimes I just cried).

Who really loses in all this:


















Secretly glad:

Occasional Links: The Hank Pym, Superstar Edition

Despite Fan B**tching, Spider-Man's Brand New Day Top Of Sales


Amazing Spider-Man #546 made the top of Diamond's sales charts for January, followed close by Hulk #1. Marvel took 9 of the top ten slots; Dynamite Entertainment's Project Superpowers #0 made an impressive showing in fourth place.

The DC titles that managed to crack the top 20 were Justice League of America #17, Batman #673, and Countdown #16.

And Dan Slott had three books in the top ten, and four in the top 30. Go, Slott!



GI Joe's Red, White, and Blue Is Gone?



The MTV Movie blog has what might be the first picture of the new GI Joe logo -- and its patriotic red, white, and blue have been replaced by silver and black.

I understand the need by Hasbro to extend the popularity of GI Joe beyond the USA. But...

Maybe I'm just nostalgic. Was watching the old cartoons the other day.


The Joker Returns

The New York Post ran an article called "Cruel Joker" about the decision to release action figures and other Dark Knight merchandise despite actor Heath Ledger's death:

"Heath Ledger lives on - as an evil 6-inch figurine."

I love how the Post just reduces things...

Anyway, here is the Joker action figure...what do you think?




"Shaun of the Dead" director to helm Ant-Man?


Could Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright be up for directing the Ant-Man movie?

Wright told Empire Magazine:

"I finished the script and I'm having a meeting about it next week, but it depends which comes first in the queue basically. I've been working on two at once, and I'm also about to start developing two more scripts, one of which is with Simon (Pegg). It could be Scott Pilgrim [Scott Prilgrim’s Precious Little Life] is next or it could be Ant Man, we shall see."

In other news, there's going to be a Scott Pilgrim movie...


Video: William M. Gaines Interview from late 1980s


Some interesting stuff to point out in this interview:

* Gaines says in the interview that he has no plans to ever accept advertising in Mad, because of the conflict of interest. Of course, that has now changed post-Gaines.

* Gaines also says he would never license Mad out for other products:

"I just think that sucking every last buck out of a product with merchandising is not neccesarily the way to go and Mad doesn't do it."


As we can see by the current DC Direct Alfred E. Neuman and Spy Vs. Spy toys, this is another big change from the Mad Magazine of yesteryear. However, to be fair, I did remember playing with a Mad Magazine board game as a youngster (it kicked ass).

* Gaines refused to do market research, because he was afraid that if they knew the exact demographics, they would sub-consciously start writing to target that demographic.

* Gaines (and company) on the sale of Mad to Time Warner:

Gaines: "I didn't sell Mad to Warners, I sold it to somebody who sold it to Warners..."

Staffer: "Like the Contras deal..."

* Gaines was required by Warners to have a yearly physical; he regularly sent another staffer to take his place.