Mad Magazine

What me worry?

The demise of Mad was a bit of a shock, although it shouldn't be. Almost everything I grew up with is gone. Some of that is good, other things, not so much. And print publications are beginning to look more and more like the dodo.

Mad was part of my teenage years. My ex and I would laugh at the issues together even as adults.

After I moved to Europe in 1990 I never saw it and didn't miss it. And I barely thought about it, unless some comment jarred my memory.

However, when an American came back into my life and mentioned it to my daughter, her reaction was -- AHA, something I can  him. She regularly sends him copies. I suspect she reads them first. The issues end up in our bathroom reading rack along with The New Yorker.

A high school friend wrote on Facebook to buy up all the copies possible. In a few years they can be sold with the profit large enough to put grand kids through university. 

Merriman Webster defines satire.

1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn

2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

 

Mad was the epitome of satire. In today's scary world, a bit of humor is needed to give one the strength to face what we need to worry about. There is a sadness in its demise.