Long-time Mad magazine contributor tweets that the legendary publication will shut down

by Charlie Smith on July 3rd, 2019 at 9:45 PM

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American comics artist and long-time Mad magazine contributor Evan Dorkin tweeted tonight the publication will soon cease publishing after 67 years.

"MAD gave me a lot of happiness as a reader in my childhood and as an obsessive cartoonist poring over the work of Elder, Wood, Kurtzman, Aragones, Prohias, Jaffee, etc etc et al.," Dorkin declared. "I hope we provided some smiles to some readers of the past 12 yrs. Thanks to those who told us 'yes'."

In a series of other tweets, he stated that Mad "had a good run" and that working for the magazine "was a dream, a blast and a decent paycheck".

He also noted that Mad still outsells most comics, "but obviously that isn't enough with overhead and quarterly bean counting".

https://twitter.com/evandorkin/status/1146597006556717056

"Seeing MAD close down hurts, especially during a morbidly depressing year for cartoonist and the comics industry in general," Dorkin wrote. "And my heart goes out to the Usual Gang freelancers."

Mad has not issued a statement on its website, Twitter feed, or Facebook page as of this writing.

Dorkin, however, wrote this: "Getting the e-mail today was crushing."

https://twitter.com/evandorkin/status/1146590875142823936

Its parodies, beginning in the 1950s, helped create a generation of skeptical kids, some of whom grew up to question the Cold War and the presence of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops in Vietnam.

At its peak in 1974, Mad's circulation surpassed two million. Its beloved mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, had a toothy grin recognized by untold millions more.

Among those mourning the apparent looming demise of Mad is Weird Al Yankovic.

"I can't begin to describe the impact it had on me as a young kid—it's pretty much the reason I turned out weird," he tweeted. "Goodbye to one of the all-time greatest American institutions."