Mystery Comics Digest was one of three digest size comics published by Gold Key Comics in the early 1970s. The other two were Golden Comics Digest and Walt Disney Comics Digest .
97-986: Mystery Comics Digest was published for 26 issues, from 1972 to 1975. All reprinted stories from three of Gold Key's mystery/suspense/fantasy/science fiction anthologies: Ripley's Believe It or Not! , Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery , and Twilight Zone , in a three-issue rotation. Each issue highlighted the title it was reprinted from on the cover. Issue focus: In addition to reprints, each issue had several original works. Some of these would introduce characters who appeared in Don Glut 's titles at Gold Key: Dagar , Doctor Spektor , and Tragg . Tragg appeared in issues #3 and 9 before getting his own title. Doctor Spektor appeared in issues #5, 10–12, and 21 before getting his own title. Duroc/Durak, who would assist Dagar , appeared in issues #7, 14, 15. Dagar's foe, Xorkon, appeared first in #14. The first two Duroc stories were originally intended to feature Dagar. Also, several of
194-436: A Dr. Seuss parody called "Free Speeches On The Beaches"). Distribution to newsstands stopped, with the magazine initially becoming available only through comic-book shops and by subscription, although in 2022 distribution expanded to Barnes & Noble via a series of compilation issues dubbed The Treasure Trove of Trash . Though there are antecedents to Mad ' s style of humor in print, radio and film, Mad became
291-484: A Ripley's film series. In addition to Jacks, Sean Daniel and Richard D. Zanuck were to serve as producers for the film. Zanuck spent six weeks in China to scout filming locations for the project. In June 2006, Paramount delayed the start of production on the film for at least a year because its projected budget went over the allowed $ 150 million. Carrey had waived his entire upfront salary to help keep costs low, but
388-536: A gap-toothed smile, and the perennial motto "What, me worry?" The original image was a popular humorous graphic for many decades before Mad adopted it, but the face is now primarily associated with Mad . Mad initially used the boy's face in November 1954. His first iconic full-cover appearance was as a write-in candidate for president on issue No. 30 (December 1956), in which he was identified by name and sported his "What, me worry?" motto. He has since appeared in
485-447: A boisterous 1930s humor publication that made an editorial point of mocking its own sponsors. Feldstein went so far as to propose an in-house Mad ad agency, and produced a "dummy" copy of what an issue with ads could look like. But Bill Gaines was intractable, telling the television news magazine 60 Minutes , "We long ago decided we couldn't take money from Pepsi-Cola and make fun of Coca-Cola." Gaines' motivation in eschewing ad dollars
582-460: A comic book, Mad had run the same advertisements as the rest of EC's line. The magazine later made a deal with Moxie soda that involved inserting the Moxie logo into various articles. Mad ran a limited number of ads in its first two years as a magazine, helpfully labeled "real advertisement" to differentiate the real from the parodies. The last authentic ad published under the original Mad regime
679-551: A day and six days a week in order to find unusual facts for Ripley. Other writers and researchers included Lester Byck. In 1930, Ripley moved to the New York American and was picked up by the King Features Syndicate , being quickly syndicated on an international basis. Ripley died in 1949; those working on the syndicated newspaper panel after his death included Paul Frehm (1938–1978; he became
776-533: A general culture of censorship prevailed in the United States, especially in literature for teens. Activist Tom Hayden said, "My own radical journey began with Mad Magazine ." The rise of such factors as cable television and the Internet has diminished the influence and impact of Mad , although it remains a widely distributed magazine. In a way, Mad ' s power has been undone by its own success: what
873-586: A godfather: this same generation later went on to give us the sexual revolution, the environmental movement, the peace movement, greater freedom in artistic expression, and a host of other goodies. Coincidence? You be the judge. Pulitzer Prize -winning art comics maven Art Spiegelman said, "The message Mad had in general is, 'The media is lying to you, and we are part of the media.' It was basically ... 'Think for yourselves, kids. ' " William Gaines offered his own view: when asked to cite Mad ' s philosophy, his boisterous answer was, "We must never stop reminding
970-485: A legal precedent that only a song's composers retained the right to parody that song. Judge Charles Metzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled largely in favor of Mad in 1963, affirming its right to print 23 of the 25 song parodies under dispute. However, in the case of two parodies, "Always" (sung to the tune of " Always ") and "There's No Business Like No Business" (sung to
1067-485: A letter weeks earlier from Lucas himself, expressing delight over the parody and calling artist Mort Drucker and writer Dick DeBartolo "the Leonardo da Vinci and George Bernard Shaw of comic satire." Publisher Bill Gaines made a copy of Lucas' letter, added the handwritten notation "Gee, your boss George liked it!" across the top, and mailed it to the lawyers. Said DeBartolo, "We never heard from them again." Mad
SECTION 10
#17328008968251164-636: A maker of venetian blinds. Around 1964, Premier sold Mad to Independent News , a division of National Periodical Publications , the publisher of DC Comics . In the summer of 1967, Kinney National Company purchased National Periodical Publications. Kinney bought Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in early 1969. As a result of the car parking scandal, Kinney Services spun off of its non-entertainment assets to form National Kinney Corporation in August 1971, and it reincorporated as Warner Communications, Inc. on February 10, 1972. In 1977, National Periodical Publications
1261-516: A signature example of it. Throughout the 1950s, Mad featured groundbreaking parodies combining a sentimental fondness for the familiar staples of American culture—such as Archie and Superman —with a keen joy in exposing the fakery behind the image. Its approach was described by Dave Kehr in The New York Times : " Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding on the radio, Ernie Kovacs on television, Stan Freberg on records, Harvey Kurtzman in
1358-482: A slew of guises and comic situations. According to Mad writer Frank Jacobs, a letter was once successfully delivered to the magazine through the U.S. mail bearing only Neuman's face, without any address or other identifying information. The magazine has been involved in various legal actions over the decades, some of which have reached the United States Supreme Court . The most far-reaching
1455-488: A strong listener reaction, he was given a Monday night NBC series beginning April 14, 1930, followed by a 1931–32 series airing twice a week. After his strange stories were dramatized on NBC's Saturday Party , Ripley was the host of The Baker's Broadcast from 1935 to 1937. He was scheduled in several different 1937–38 NBC timeslots and then took to the road with popular remote broadcasts. See America First with Bob Ripley (1938–40) on CBS expanded geographically into See All
1552-411: A third of this figure by the end of his time as editor. In its earliest incarnation, new issues of the magazine appeared erratically, between four and nine times a year. By the end of 1958, Mad had settled on an unusual eight-times-a-year schedule, which lasted almost four decades. Issues would go on sale 7 to 9 weeks before the start of the month listed on the cover. Gaines felt the atypical timing
1649-460: A world of bomb shelters, brinkmanship and toothpaste smiles. Mad ' s consciousness of itself, as trash, as comic book, as enemy of parents and teachers, even as money-making enterprise, thrilled kids. In 1955, such consciousness was possibly nowhere else to be found. In a Mad parody, comic-strip characters knew they were stuck in a strip. "Darnold Duck," for example, begins wondering why he has only three fingers and has to wear white gloves all
1746-421: Is almost in a competition with itself." Mad ' s satiric net was cast wide. The magazine often featured parodies of ongoing American culture, including advertising campaigns, the nuclear family, the media, big business, education and publishing. In the 1960s and beyond, it satirized such burgeoning topics as the sexual revolution , hippies , the generation gap , psychoanalysis , gun politics , pollution,
1843-458: Is an American humor magazine first published in 1952. It was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines , launched as a comic book series before it became a magazine. It was widely imitated and influential, affecting satirical media, as well as the cultural landscape of the late 20th century, with editor Al Feldstein increasing readership to more than two million during its 1973–1974 circulation peak. The magazine, which
1940-526: Is being lampooned. From 1952 to 2018, Mad published 550 regular magazine issues, as well as scores of reprint "Specials", original-material paperbacks, reprint compilation books and other print projects. After AT&T acquired Time Warner in June 2018, Mad ended newsstand distribution, continuing in comic-book stores and via subscription. Mad began as a comic book published by EC , debuting in August 1952 ( cover date October–November). The Mad office
2037-539: Is emphasized on its television show, where they often say "If you see it on Ripley's , you can bet that it's real". However, two claims appearing in their books have been dubbed "myths" by the Discovery Channel television show MythBusters . One claim which had previously appeared in Ripley's books, concerning an "accidental" execution of 1,200 Turkish prisoners when something uttered by Napoleon Bonaparte
SECTION 20
#17328008968252134-469: Is the last surviving title from the EC Comics line, publishes satire on all aspects of life and popular culture, politics, entertainment, and public figures. Its format includes TV and movie parodies, and satire articles about everyday occurrences that are changed to seem humorous. Mad ' s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman , is usually on the cover, with his face replacing that of a celebrity or character who
2231-596: Is they're after, it is so important to them that all the rest of the world can go on without them. They want to make something that makes them immortal, makes them a little different than you and me". Despite the wide range of true and unbelievable art, sculpture, photographs, interactive devices, animal oddities, and recycled objects contained within the collection, alien or witchcraft-type stories are rarely considered as they are (according to Meyers) difficult to prove. To be included in Ripley's Believe It or Not books, museums or television shows, items must undergo scrutiny from
2328-420: Is why you got fancier in the first place—and now you're sunk. Mad has provided a continuing showcase for many long-running satirical writers and artists and has fostered an unusual group loyalty. Although several of the contributors earn far more than their Mad pay in fields such as television and advertising, they have steadily continued to provide material for the publication. Among the notable artists were
2425-639: The Los Angeles Times ' Robert Boyd wrote, "All I really need to know I learned from Mad magazine", going on to assert: Plenty of it went right over my head, of course, but that's part of what made it attractive and valuable. Things that go over your head can make you raise your head a little higher. The magazine instilled in me a habit of mind, a way of thinking about a world rife with false fronts, small print, deceptive ads, booby traps, treacherous language, double standards, half truths, subliminal pitches and product placements; it warned me that I
2522-667: The Jim Pattison Group ) hosts more than 12 million guests annually. Ripley Entertainment's publishing and broadcast divisions oversee numerous projects, including the syndicated TV series, the newspaper cartoon panel, books, posters and games. Ripley called his cartoon feature (originally involving sports feats) Champs and Chumps when it premiered on December 19, 1918 in The New York Globe . He began adding items unrelated to sports and in October 1919, he changed
2619-694: The Ripley's Twists , the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Special Edition in conjunction with Scholastic USA and a number of other titles. At the height of his popularity, Robert Ripley received thousands of letters a day from the public and Ripley Entertainment continues to encourage submissions from readers who have strange stories and photographs that could be featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not! books and media. The people whose items are featured in such books as Strikingly True have what Edward Meyer, Vice President of Exhibits and Archives at Ripley Entertainment Inc., describes as an obsession: "Whatever it
2716-597: The Vietnam War and recreational drug use . The magazine took a generally negative tone towards counterculture drugs such as cannabis and LSD , but it also savaged mainstream drugs such as tobacco and alcohol . Mad always satirized Democrats as mercilessly as it did Republicans . In 2007, Al Feldstein recalled, "We even used to rake the hippies over the coals. They were protesting the Vietnam War, but we took aspects of their culture and had fun with it. Mad
2813-483: The " Mad Fold-in ", "The Lighter Side of ..." and its television and movie parodies. The magazine has also included recurring gags and references, both visual (e.g. the Mad Zeppelin, or Arthur the potted plant) and linguistic (unusual words such as axolotl , furshlugginer, potrzebie and veeblefetzer). The image most closely associated with the magazine is that of Alfred E. Neuman , the boy with misaligned eyes,
2910-495: The 1950s is the same generation that, in the 1960s, opposed a war and didn't feel bad when the United States lost for the first time and in the 1970s helped turn out an Administration and didn't feel bad about that either ... It was magical, objective proof to kids that they weren't alone, that in New York City on Lafayette Street, if nowhere else, there were people who knew that there was something wrong, phony and funny about
3007-624: The 23-issue run of the comic book. To retain Kurtzman as its editor, the comic book converted to magazine format as of issue No. 24, in 1955. The switchover induced Kurtzman to remain for one more year, but the move had removed Mad from the strictures of the Comics Code Authority . William Gaines related in 1992 that Mad "was not changed [into a magazine] to avoid the Code" but "as a result of this [change of format] it did avoid
Mystery Comics Digest - Misplaced Pages Continue
3104-473: The Americas , a 1942 program with Latin music. In 1944, he was heard five nights a week on Mutual in shows with an emphasis on World War II. Romance, Rhythm and Ripley aired on CBS in 1945, followed by Pages from Robert L. Ripley's Radio Scrapbook (1947–48). Robert Ripley is known for several radio firsts. He was the first to broadcast nationwide on a radio network from mid-ocean and he also participated in
3201-841: The Code." Gaines claimed that Kurtzman had at the time received "a very lucrative offer from... Pageant magazine," and seeing as he, Kurtzman, "had, prior to that time, evinced an interest in changing Mad into a magazine," Gaines, "not know[ing] anything about publishing magazines," countered that offer by allowing Kurtzman to make the change. Gaines further stated that "if Harvey [Kurtzman] had not gotten that offer from Pageant , Mad probably would not have changed format." After Kurtzman's departure in 1956, new editor Al Feldstein swiftly brought aboard contributors such as Don Martin , Frank Jacobs , and Mort Drucker , and later Antonio Prohías , Dave Berg , and Sergio Aragonés . The magazine's circulation more than quadrupled during Feldstein's tenure, peaking at 2,132,655 in 1974; it later declined to
3298-526: The New York run also returned to the pages of the California-based issues including contributors Sergio Aragonés , Al Jaffee , Desmond Devlin , Tom Richmond , Peter Kuper , Teresa Burns Parkhurst, Rick Tulka , Tom Bunk , Jeff Kruse, Ed Steckley, Arie Kaplan , writer and former Senior Editor Charlie Kadau , and artist and former Art Director Sam Viviano . The first California issue of Mad
3395-545: The Supreme Court refused to hear it, allowing the decision to stand. This precedent-setting 1964 ruling established the rights of parodists and satirists to mimic the meter of popular songs. However, the "Sing Along With Mad " songbook was not the magazine's first venture into musical parody. In 1960, Mad had published "My Fair Ad-Man", a full advertising-based spoof of the hit Broadway musical My Fair Lady . In 1959, "If Gilbert & Sullivan wrote Dick Tracy "
3492-410: The aforementioned Davis, Elder and Wood, as well as Sergio Aragonés , Mort Drucker , Don Martin , Dave Berg, George Woodbridge , Harry North and Paul Coker . Writers such as Dick DeBartolo , Stan Hart , Frank Jacobs , Tom Koch , and Arnie Kogen appeared regularly in the magazine's pages. In several cases, only infirmity or death has ended a contributor's run at Mad. Within the industry, Mad
3589-543: The claims. Originally a newspaper panel , the Believe It or Not feature proved popular and was later adapted into a wide variety of formats, including radio, television, comic books, a chain of museums, and a book series. The Ripley collection includes 20,000 photographs, 30,000 artifacts and more than 100,000 cartoon panels. With 80-plus attractions, the Orlando, Florida-based Ripley Entertainment, Inc. (a division of
3686-638: The creatures that Dr. Spektor fought appeared here first, including Ra-ka-tep the mummy (#1), Count Wulfstein the werewolf (#2), Simbar the werelion (#3), Baron Tibor the vampire (#4), and the Lurker in the Swamp (#7). This comics -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ripley%27s Believe It or Not! Ripley's Believe It or Not! is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley , which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question
3783-490: The decades. Recent Ripley's Believe It or Not! books containing new material have supplemented illustrations with photographs. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz 's first publication of artwork was published by Ripley. It was a cartoon claiming his dog Spike was "a hunting dog who eats pins, tacks, screws, nails and razor blades". Said dog would later became the model for Snoopy . Some notable books include: A series of paperback books containing annotated sketches from
3880-546: The early issues of Mad : all of those pioneering humorists and many others realized that the real world mattered less to people than the sea of sounds and images that the ever more powerful mass media were pumping into American lives." Bob and Ray , Kovacs and Freberg all became contributors to Mad . In 1977, Tony Hiss and Jeff Lewis wrote in The New York Times about the then-25-year-old publication's initial effect: The skeptical generation of kids it shaped in
3977-719: The end of 2017 with issue No. 550 ( cover-dated April 2018), in preparation for the relocation of its offices to DC Entertainment 's headquarters in Burbank, California . Bill Morrison was named in June 2017 to succeed Ficarra in January 2018. None of MAD ' s New York staff made the move, resulting in a change in editorial leadership, tone, and art direction. More than a hundred new names made their Mad debuts including Brian Posehn , Maria Bamford , Ian Boothby , Luke McGarry , Akilah Hughes , and future Pulitzer Prize finalist Pia Guerra . Scores of artists and writers from
Mystery Comics Digest - Misplaced Pages Continue
4074-435: The even more hilarious picture of the hydrogen bomb!" The jittery aftertaste of that joke clarified. It was a splinter driven through the carefully measured prose on the back of some Mentor book about Man and His Destiny ... By not fitting in, a joke momentarily interrupted the world. But after the joke you recognized it was a joke and went back to the integral world that the joke broke. But what if it never came back again, and
4171-436: The exploits of Robert Ripley, one of the most popular newspaper cartoonists in the '30s and '40s, who was well known for going around the world and looking for oddities and getting into adventures while doing so. We want to make a series of movies that, if not quite the truth, are the adventures that should have happened. We want to turn it into an Indiana Jones , a goofy version, as played by Johnny Depp . When they saw we had
4268-613: The famed Times Square exhibit opened in 1939 on Broadway. In 1950, a year after Ripley's death, the first permanent Odditorium opened in St. Augustine, Florida . The Odditorium is housed in the Castle Warden, built in 1888 by an associate of Henry Flagler , President of the Florida East Coast Railway . As of May 2023 , there are 28 Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditoriums around the world. Odditoriums (in
4365-404: The film was delayed further to allow Burton to film Sweeney Todd . In December 2006, Burton and Carrey approved writer Steve Oedekerk to rewrite the script. Oedekerk had worked with Carrey on several previous projects. Production was to begin in China in winter 2008, for a 2009 release. Later in January, Zanuck said he was no longer involved with the project, and that he was unaware that it
4462-460: The first broadcast from Buenos Aires to New York City. Assisted by a corps of translators, he was the first to broadcast to every nation in the world simultaneously. As the years went on, the show became less about oddities and featured guest-driven entertainment such as comedy routines. Sponsors over the course of the program included Pall Mall cigarettes and General Foods . The program ended its successful run in 1948 as Ripley prepared to convert
4559-527: The full-time artist in 1949), and his brother Walter Frehm (1948–1989); Walter worked part-time with his brother Paul and became a full-time Ripley artist from 1978 to 1989. Others who assisted included Clem Gretter (1941–1949), Bob Clarke (1943–1944), Joe Campbell (1946–1956), Art Sloggatt (1971–1975), Carl Dorese, and Stan Randall. Paul Frehm won the National Cartoonists Society 's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1976 for his work on
4656-559: The illogical, hypocritical, self-serious and ludicrous" before concluding, "Nowadays, it's part of the oxygen we breathe." Joyce Carol Oates called it "wonderfully inventive, irresistibly irreverent and intermittently ingenious." Artist Dave Gibbons said, "When you think of the people who grew up in the '50s and '60s, the letters M-A-D were probably as influential as L-S-D, in that it kind of expanded people's consciousness and showed them an alternative view of society and consumer culture—mocked it, satirized it." Gibbons also noted that Mad
4753-587: The little gap stayed there and became everything? In 1994, Brian Siano in The Humanist discussed the effect of Mad on that segment of people already disaffected from society: For the smarter kids of two generations, Mad was a revelation: it was the first to tell us that the toys we were being sold were garbage, our teachers were phonies, our leaders were fools, our religious counselors were hypocrites, and even our parents were lying to us about damn near everything. An entire generation had William Gaines for
4850-417: The magazine was obliged to abandon its long-time home at 485 Madison Avenue and in the mid-1990s it moved into DC Comics's offices at the same time that DC relocated to 1700 Broadway . In issue No. 403 of March 2001, the magazine broke its long-standing taboo and began running paid advertising. The outside revenue allowed the introduction of color printing and improved paper stock. After Meglin retired in 2004,
4947-407: The magazine's impact on him, saying, "You start reading it, and you're going, 'These people don't respect anything .' And that just exploded my head. It was like, you don't have to buy it. You can say 'This is stupid. This is stupid. ' " Critic Roger Ebert wrote: I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine ... Mad ' s parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin—of
SECTION 50
#17328008968255044-467: The magazine's parody of the film The Empire Strikes Back , a letter from George Lucas 's lawyers arrived in Mad' s offices demanding that the issue be recalled for infringement on copyrighted figures. The letter further demanded that the printing plates be destroyed, and that Lucasfilm must receive all revenue from the issue plus additional punitive damages. Unbeknownst to Lucas' lawyers, Mad had received
5141-517: The magazine, such as The Mad Magazine Game , a series of video games based on Spy vs. Spy , and the notorious Up the Academy movie (which the magazine later disowned). Mad explicitly promised that it would never make its mailing list available. Both Kurtzman and Feldstein wanted the magazine to solicit advertising, feeling this could be accomplished without compromising Mad' s content or editorial independence. Kurtzman remembered Ballyhoo ,
5238-405: The margins as all of culture competes for trickster status." Longtime contributor Al Jaffee described the dilemma to an interviewer in 2010: "When Mad first came out, in 1952, it was the only game in town. Now, you've got graduates from Mad who are doing The Today Show or Stephen Colbert or Saturday Night Live . All of these people grew up on Mad . Now Mad has to top them. So Mad
5335-564: The newspaper feature: Ripley Entertainment produces a range of books featuring unusual facts, news stories and photographs. In 2004, Ripley Entertainment founded Ripley Publishing Ltd , based in the United Kingdom, to publish new Believe It or Not titles. The company produces the New York Times bestselling Ripley's Believe It or Not! Annuals , the children's fiction series Ripley's RBI , an educational series called
5432-410: The owner of the copyright had allowed the image to pass into the public domain, thus establishing the right of Mad —or anyone else—to use the image. In addition, Mad established that Stuff was not himself the creator of the image, by producing numerous other examples dating back to the late 19th century. This decision was also allowed to stand. Other legal disputes were settled more easily. Following
5529-490: The panel from 1989 to 2004. John Graziano from 2005 to 2021. The current artist is Kieran Castaño, who is supported by the Ripley's Research Team. At the peak of its popularity, the syndicated feature was read daily by about 80 million readers; during the first three weeks of May 1932 alone, Ripley received over two million pieces of fan mail. Dozens of paperback editions reprinting the newspaper panels have been published over
5626-500: The previous China-based storyline entirely. Negotiations were underway that month to hire Columbus as director, with plans to hire a writer afterwards. Paramount planned to release the film in 2011, and hoped that it would be the start of a Ripley's film series. In January 2011, Eric Roth was hired to write the script, with Carrey still attached to star. Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong joined the project as producers, alongside Jacks and Daniel. When Ripley first displayed his collection to
5723-513: The project remained over budget. Burton and Carrey also wanted to have Alexander and Karaszewski make changes to the film's script to focus more on Ripley's Believe It or Not column. Carrey was adamant on avoiding what happened with his previous project Fun with Dick and Jane , which required reshoots and additional editing as a result of beginning production without a script. Filming had been scheduled to begin in China in November 2006. Although Paramount could have delayed production to spring 2007,
5820-612: The public at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, it was labeled Ripley's Odditorium and attracted over two million visitors during the run of the fair (in an apparent promotional gimmick, beds were provided in the Odditorium for people who "fainted" daily). That successful exhibition led to trailer shows across the country during the 1930s and his collections were exhibited at many major fairs and expositions, including San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, and Cleveland. In New York City,
5917-399: The reader what little value they get for their money!" Comics historian Tom Spurgeon picked Mad as the medium's top series of all time, writing, "At the height of its influence, Mad was The Simpsons , The Daily Show and The Onion combined." Graydon Carter chose it as the sixth-best magazine of any sort ever, describing Mad ' s mission as being "ever ready to pounce on
SECTION 60
#17328008968256014-457: The same place and move the background around. We quite mercilessly stole the wonderful techniques Harvey Kurtzman had invented in Mad . In a 1985 Tonight Show appearance, when Johnny Carson asked Michael J. Fox , "When did you really know you'd made it in show business?", Fox replied, "When Mort Drucker drew my head." In 2019, Terence Winter , writer and producer of The Sopranos , told Variety "When we got into Mad Magazine, that
6111-466: The series. Clarke later created parodies of Believe It or Not! for Mad , as did Wally Wood and Ernie Kovacs , who also did a recurring satire called "Strangely Believe It!" on his TV programs. Other strips and books borrowed the Ripley design and format, such as Ralph Graczak's Our Own Oddities , John Hix's Strange as It Seems , and Gordon Johnston's It Happened in Canada . Don Wimmer took up
6208-434: The show format to television. The newspaper feature has been adapted into more than a few films and TV shows. In October 2004, Paramount Pictures announced plans for a film that would chronicle the life of Robert Ripley. The film was to be produced by James Jacks and his Alphaville Films company, associated with Paramount. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired to write the script. Jacks explained: "It's about
6305-519: The spirit of Believe It or Not! ) are often more than simple museums cluttered with curiosities. Some include theaters and arcades, such as the ones in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Others are constructed oddly, such as the Orlando, Florida Odditorium which is built off-level as if the building is sinking (a commemoration of a sinkhole that opened on the site while construction
6402-506: The staff and be 100% authenticated. In 1953, Harvey Comics published the first Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic book, titled Ripley's Believe It or Not! Magazine and lasted for four issues until March 1954. From 1965 until 1980, Gold Key Comics published the second Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic book, which lasted for 94 issues. In 2002, Dark Horse Comics published the third Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic book, written by Haden Blackman, which lasted for three issues and
6499-491: The team of Ficarra (as executive editor) Raiola and Kadau (as senior editors), and Sam Viviano , who had taken over as art director in 1999, would helm Mad for the next 14 years. Throughout the years, MAD remained a unique mix of adolescent silliness and political humor. In November 2017, Rolling Stone wrote that "operating under the cover of barf jokes, MAD has become America's best political satire magazine." Nevertheless, Mad ended its 65-year run in New York City at
6596-443: The time. He ends up wanting to murder every other Disney character. G.I. Schmoe tries to win the sexy Asiatic Red Army broad by telling her, "O.K., baby! You're all mine! I gave you a chance to hit me witta gun butt ... But naturally, you have immediately fallen in love with me, since I am a big hero of this story." Mad is often credited with filling a vital gap in political satire from the 1950s to 1970s, when Cold War paranoia and
6693-612: The title to Believe It or Not . When the Globe folded in 1923, he moved to the New York Evening Post . In 1924, the panel began being syndicated by Associated Newspapers , (formed as part of a cooperative that had included the Globe ). That same year, Ripley hired Norbert Pearlroth as his researcher, and Pearlroth spent the next 52 years of his life in the New York Public Library , working ten hours
6790-427: The tune of " There's No Business Like Show Business "), Judge Metzner decided that the issue of copyright infringement was closer, requiring a trial because in each case the parodies relied on the same verbal hooks ("always" and "business") as the originals. The music publishers appealed the ruling, but the U.S. Court of Appeals not only upheld the pro- Mad decision in regard to the 23 songs, it adopted an approach that
6887-451: The way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies ; I lost it at Mad magazine. Rock singer Patti Smith said more succinctly, "After Mad , drugs were nothing." Mad is known for many regular and semi-regular recurring features in its pages, including " Spy vs. Spy ",
6984-539: The work that impressed them in their childhood and youth. I still feel extremely inadequate when I look at the old Mad comics." When Weird Al Yankovic was asked whether Mad had had any influence in putting him on a road to a career in parody, the musician replied, "[It was] more like going off a cliff." Mystery Science Theater 3000 writer-actor Frank Conniff wrote, "Without Mad Magazine, MST3K would have been slightly different, like for instance, it wouldn't have existed." Comedian Jerry Seinfeld talked about
7081-409: The writers from Larry Flynt , they thought that we wanted to make the kinky version, but we saw a chance to do a Spielberg -type movie with one of their characters". In November 2005, Tim Burton was attached to direct the film, with Jim Carrey starring as Robert Ripley. Filming was to begin in October 2006, for a 2007 release. Paramount hinted that the film, if successful, could be the start of
7178-400: The years, the Mad crew traveled to such locales as France, Kenya , Russia, Hong Kong, England, Amsterdam , Tahiti , Morocco , Italy, Greece, and Germany. The tradition ended with Gaines' death, and a 1993 trip to Monte Carlo . Although Mad was an exclusively freelance publication, it achieved remarkable stability, with numerous contributors remaining prominent for decades. Critics of
7275-408: The younger generation of the 1950s: By now they knew the [nuclear survival] pamphlets lied ... Rod Serling knew a lot more than President Eisenhower . There were even jokes about the atom bomb in Mad , a gallows humor commenting on its own ghastliness: "The last example of this nauseating, busted-crutch type humor is to show an atom-bomb explosion! However, this routine, we feel, is giving way to
7372-435: Was Irving Berlin et al. v. E.C. Publications, Inc. In 1961, a group of music publishers representing songwriters such as Irving Berlin , Richard Rodgers , and Cole Porter filed a $ 25 million lawsuit against Mad for copyright infringement following "Sing Along With Mad ", a collection of parody lyrics which the magazine said could be "sung to the tune of" many popular songs. The publishing group hoped to establish
7469-485: Was an overt influence on Watchmen , the acclaimed 12-issue comic book series created by writer Alan Moore and himself: When it comes to the kind of storytelling we did in Watchmen , we used many of the tricks Harvey Kurtzman perfected in Mad . The thing for instance where you have a background that remains constant, and have characters walk around in front of it. Or the inverse of that, where you have characters in
7566-445: Was automatically invited, along with freelancers who had qualified for an invitation by selling a set number of articles or pages during the previous year. Gaines was strict about enforcing this quota, and one year, longtime writer and frequent traveller Arnie Kogen was bumped off the list. Later that year, Gaines' mother died, and Kogen was asked if he would be attending the funeral. "I can't," said Kogen, "I don't have enough pages." Over
7663-547: Was broad enough to strip the publishers of their limited victory regarding the remaining two songs. Writing a unanimous opinion for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit , Circuit Judge Irving Kaufman observed, "We doubt that even so eminent a composer as plaintiff Irving Berlin should be permitted to claim a property interest in iambic pentameter ." The publishers again appealed, but
7760-434: Was for Famous Artists School ; two issues later, the inside front cover of issue No. 34 had a parody of the same ad. After this transitional period, the only promotions to appear in Mad for decades were house ads for Mad' s own books and specials, subscriptions, and promotional items such as ceramic busts, T-shirts, or a line of Mad jewelry. This rule was bent only a few times to promote outside products directly related to
7857-466: Was in progress). Alphabetical, by country or district: The aquarium, opened in 1997 at Broadway at the Beach , does scientific research and veterinary care for sharks, turtles and other fish but is not always taken seriously because of the Ripley's reputation. Authorities at the company insist that they thoroughly investigate everything and ensure their accuracy before they publish their research. This
7954-425: Was initially located in lower Manhattan at 225 Lafayette Street, while in the early 1960s it moved to 485 Madison Avenue , the location listed in the magazine as "485 MADison Avenue". The first issue was written almost entirely by Harvey Kurtzman , and featured illustrations by him, Wally Wood , Will Elder , Jack Davis , and John Severin . Wood, Elder, and Davis were to be the three main illustrators throughout
8051-463: Was known for the uncommonly prompt manner in which its contributors were paid. Publisher Gaines would typically write a personal check and give it to the artist upon receipt of the finished product. Wally Wood said, "I got spoiled ... Other publishers don't do that. I started to get upset if I had to wait a whole week for my check." Another lure for contributors was the annual "Mad Trip", an all-expenses-paid tradition that began in 1960. The editorial staff
8148-716: Was later collected in a trade paperback published by Dark Horse in May 2003, entitled Ripley's Believe It or Not! ( ISBN 1-56971-909-8 ) In 2015, Zenescope published a two issue comic edited by Terry Kavanagh. On April 14, 1930, Ripley brought Believe It or Not to radio, the first of several series heard on NBC , CBS and the Mutual Broadcasting System . As noted by the website Ripley On Radio, Ripley's broadcasts varied in length from 15 minutes to 30 minutes and aired in numerous different formats. When Ripley's 1930 debut on The Collier Hour brought
8245-485: Was less philosophical than practical: We'd have to improve our package. Most advertisers want to appear in a magazine that's loaded with color and has super-slick paper. So you find yourself being pushed into producing a more expensive package. You get bigger and fancier and attract more advertisers. Then you find you're losing some of your advertisers. Your readers still expect the fancy package, so you keep putting it out, but now you don't have your advertising income, which
8342-530: Was misunderstood, has had its accuracy challenged by Snopes . Ripley's has reported the urban legend of Frank Tower —an individual who was supposed to have survived the sinkings of the RMS Titanic , RMS Empress of Ireland , and RMS Lusitania —as being factual, but this story has been debunked by several sources. Ripley's has also repeated the Muhlenberg legend , which claims that German
8439-463: Was necessary to maintain the magazine's level of quality. Beginning in 1994, Mad then began incrementally producing additional issues per year, until it reached a monthly schedule with issue No. 353 (Jan. 1997). With its 500th issue (June 2009), amid company-wide cutbacks at Time Warner, the magazine temporarily regressed to a quarterly publication before settling to six issues per year in 2010. Gaines sold his company in 1961 to Premier Industries,
8536-408: Was often merely the target of people who claimed to be my friend; it prompted me to mistrust authority, to read between the lines, to take nothing at face value, to see patterns in the often shoddy construction of movies and TV shows; and it got me to think critically in a way that few actual humans charged with my care ever bothered to. In 1988, Geoffrey O'Brien wrote about the impact Mad had upon
8633-547: Was once one vote short of becoming the official language of the United States. Ripley's has mentioned a well-known myth that claims the Great Wall of China is visible from the Moon with the naked human eye. The 2013 videogame Grand Theft Auto V features a business called Bishop's WTF on Vinewood Boulevard, based on the Ripley's located on Hollywood Boulevard. Mad (magazine) Mad (stylized as MAD )
8730-509: Was one of several parties that filed amicus curiae briefs with the Supreme Court in support of 2 Live Crew and its disputed song parody, during the 1993 Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. case. Mad was long noted for its absence of advertising, enabling it to satirize materialist culture without fear of reprisal. For decades, it was the most successful American magazine to publish ad-free, beginning with issue No. 33 (April 1957) and continuing through issue No. 402 (February 2001). As
8827-546: Was one of the speculative pairings in "If Famous Authors Wrote the Comics". In 1966, a series of copyright infringement lawsuits against the magazine regarding ownership of the Alfred E. Neuman image eventually reached the appellate level. Although Harry Stuff had copyrighted the image in 1914, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that, by allowing many copies of the image to circulate without any copyright notice,
8924-400: Was proceeding. Oedekerk's draft was completed in June 2007, and was approved that month by Paramount, Burton, and Carrey. At that time, Carrey hoped to have production finished by summer 2008. Later that month, Paramount was searching for a new director. In October 2008, Chris Columbus pitched an idea for the film that was approved by Carrey and Paramount. Columbus' idea involved scrapping
9021-524: Was renamed DC Comics. Feldstein retired in 1985, and was replaced by the senior team of Nick Meglin and John Ficarra , who co-edited Mad for the next two decades. Long-time production artist Lenny "The Beard" Brenner was promoted to art director and Joe Raiola and Charlie Kadau joined the staff as junior editors. Following Gaines's death in 1992, Mad became more ingrained within the Time Warner (now WarnerMedia ) corporate structure. Eventually,
9118-761: Was renumbered as "#1." In 2019, the rebooted magazine earned two Eisner Award nominations—the first such nominations in MAD's history—for the Best Short Story and Best Humor Publication categories. AT&T acquired Time Warner in June 2018. Morrison exited MAD by March 2019, during a time of layoffs and restructuring at DC Entertainment. After issue No. 10 (Dec. 2019) of the new Burbank edition, Mad began to consist mostly of curated reprints with new covers and fold-ins, although some new articles have been periodically featured, including parodies of The Batman ("The Bathroom") and Elon Musk's tenure at Twitter (in
9215-636: Was subversive in the 1950s and 1960s is now commonplace. However, its impact on three generations of humorists is incalculable, as can be seen in the frequent references to Mad on the animated series The Simpsons . The Simpsons producer Bill Oakley said, " The Simpsons has transplanted Mad magazine. Basically everyone who was young between 1955 and 1975 read Mad , and that's where your sense of humor came from. And we knew all these people, you know, Dave Berg and Don Martin—all heroes, and unfortunately, now all dead." In 2009, The New York Times wrote, " Mad once defined American satire; now it heckles from
9312-457: Was the highlight for me. That said everything." Monty Python 's Terry Gilliam wrote, " Mad became the Bible for me and my whole generation." Underground cartoonist Bill Griffith said of his youth, " Mad was a life raft in a place like Levittown , where all around you were the things that Mad was skewering and making fun of." Robert Crumb remarked, "Artists are always trying to equal
9409-566: Was wide open. Bill loved it, and he was a capitalist Republican. I loved it, and I was a liberal Democrat. That went for the writers, too; they all had their own political leanings, and everybody had a voice. But the voices were mostly critical. It was social commentary, after all." Mad also ran a good deal of less topical or contentious material on such varied subjects as fairy tales , nursery rhymes , greeting cards , sports, small talk , poetry, marriage, comic strips , awards shows , cars and many other areas of general interest. In 2007,
#824175