Farewell To Mad Magazine

"Mad was the first magazine I ever subscribed to; I started reading it in 1967, when I was 11 years old. I didn’t get a lot of mail at that age, and when it came every month (or so), I tore open the white envelope and flopped down on my bed to read it cover to cover. I was a rapacious reader, eager to discover what the self-proclaimed “usual gang of idiots” at Mad had in store for me.

Reading the magazine shaped my world view. I learned a lot about advertising (Mad had none), about manipulation and guile, about how corporate interests aren't exactly aligned with ours. About irreverence and satire. About not trusting the government. That laughing at the ludicrous (or even heinous) things all around us was not bad. All of these ideas were overseen by Mad's gap-toothed smiling mascot, Alfred E. Neumann, and its motto: “Humor in the jugular vein.”"