"Many years ago Al Jaffeecame in with a piece thatused the word 'schmuck: andthere was a big debate aboutwhether the magazine shouldinclude that word. Today itwould be nothing. rr

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Desmond Devlin, who has contributed toMad since 1984, agrees. "Culturally, Mad's impacthas been immense, especially back when itwas the foremost one-stop source of mockeryand criticism;' he says."Mad synthesized thenagging doubts that millions of Americanshad about their society, and it demonstratedthat iconoclasm would sell to a mass audience.Readers had their suspicions confirmed,and were introduced to new suspicions.

"It isn't as if presidents had never betrayedtheir oaths before, and it isn't as if advertisingsuddenly got amoral in 1955;' Devlin adds. "Butthe package Mad has put out, and the attitudeit promoted, has long since become a norm:'

Mad entered this world in 1952 as a comicbook. conceived, written and edited by HarveyKurtzman and published by ECComics. The firstfew issues of Mad satirized the era's most popularcomic books and comic strips, then Kurtzmanstarted expanding his focus to include otheraspects of popular culture, such as supermarkets,restaurant dining, motion pictures and television.

Kurtzman delighted in experimentingwith style and design, especially on Mad'scovers. The cover for issue 19, for example,looks just like a horse-racing form, while thecover of issue 20 is an exact replica of a blackcomposition notebook. For the cover of issue23, the last as a comic book, Kurtzman offeredonly the Mad logo and a single word: Think.

Publisher William Gaines decided to changeMad from a comic book to a magazine for a varietyof reasons. Kurtzman desperately wanted toget out of comics, and when Pageant magazineoffered him a job, Gaines suggested the newformat as a way of keeping Kurtzman happy. Inaddition, turning Mad into a magazine meant itno longer had to seek the approval of the ComicsCode Authority, an industry censoring board thathad made things difficult for Gaines' comic books.

However, Kurtzman didn't stay long as theeditor of Mad magazine. In 1956, he engineeredhis own firing by demanding 51% ownership inthe magazine (Gaines let him go on the spot)and immediately accepted a job from HughHefner to edit a slick, more mature humormagazine titled Trump. He then added insultto injury by raiding Mad's staff and luring awayWill Elder and Jack Davis. However, Gainesgot the last laugh when Hefner killed the newmagazine after just two money-losing issues.

Gaines feared that Mad would fail withoutKurtzman to guide it, but his wife, Nancy,and his closest friends suggested he simplybring back AI Feldstein, who had madeECs comic books a remarkable success.

Feldstein faced a host of challenges duringhis first months as editor, including rebuildingMad's creative staff and producing the magazine

on a more consistent schedule. Among his initialhires were writers and artists who would defineMad Magazine for years to come, includingFrank Jacobs, Arnie Kogen, Tom Koch, BobClarke, George Woodbridge and Don Martin.

"Despite being an atheist;' Feldstein says,"I mustsay that each of their arrivals was a godsend:'

Mad flourished under Feldstein's direction,and the "Usual Gang of Idiots;' as the writersand artists were affectionately known on themasthead, worked hard to keep the magazine'ssatire culturally aware and socially relevant. The1960s, for example, saw Frank Jacobs"'East SideStory;' a deft parody of West Side Story featuringthe United States and the Soviet Union as rivalgangs set against the United Nations. Morerecently, Mad mocked the presidential electionwith a cover featuring Alfred E.Neuman as BarackObama holding a sign reading "Yes we can't:'

Feldstein held the reins of Mad for 28 years,retiring in 1985. He was replaced by John Ficarraand Nick Meglin, who edited the magazine jointlyuntil Meglin's retirement in 2004. Today, Ficarra sitsalone in the editor's chair, assisted by senior editorsJonathan Bresman, Charlie Kadau and Joe Raiola.

Dubya is only the latest in a long line ofunlucky American Presidents to suffer the

wrath of Mad.

"Bill Gaines wasn't much of a fan of change,but Nick and I recognized that the magazineneeded updating;' says Ficarra. "At the same time,we never wanted to nuke the magazine andalienate our core loyal readers. One of the bestthings Nick and I ever did was establish the Madintern program. Most of the writers and staff hiresnow at Mad have grown out of that program.Likewise, we've had art hires, both staff andfreelance, as a result ofthe art intern program.

"In later years, when we moved over to DC,we were able to make more substantive changesmore quickly. [Publisher] Jenette Kahn was verysupportive and charged us with trying differentthings. Color-and accepting advertising topay for the color-was a big change. The Mad20 [a mainstay of every January issue] also wasborn, which I think is usually the best overallissue of the year, both for writing and art:'

Mad's circulation has declined considerablysince its heyday in the mid-1970s, a victim

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ofthe popularity of videogames and theelectronic age in general. However, themagazine has managed to stay relevant tocontemporary readers by examining thesevery issues,in addition to everything else ofinterest to today's young geeks. (Example: Arecent parody of the Hot Topic catalog.)

"Mad has done a lot recently to explicitlygrab younger readers, like 'Planet Tad!' [a fakeblog written in the style of a typical kid] and'Monroe' [a comic strip about a long-sufferinghigh schooler with perhaps the worst family in theworld];' confirms Jacob Lambert, a former internwho has been selling to Mad since 2000."Someolder readers might pine for the good old daysof Dave Berg, but in general, I think Bill Gaineswould approve of the majority of the magazine:'

One thing Gaines might not approve of is thelanguage now found in Mad. That's not to saythat the magazine is foul-mouthed-the editorsare well aware that Mad is read by parents as wellastheir kids-but words that would have beenverboten just a few years ago (such as"douchebag") are now thrown about with abandon.

"Many years ago AI Jaffee came in witha piece that used the word 'schmuck; andthere was a big debate about whether themagazine should include that word;' recallsFrankJacobs."Today it would be nothing:'

(Much worse than the word "schmuck"was the cover for Mad NO.166, March 1974,which featured a hand flipping the readerthe bird and the phrase "The Number OneEcchMagazine:' Distributors were horrified bythe image and, fearful of offending potentialcustomers, returned the issue by the box load.)

Mad hasalways strived to entertain twodistinct readerships-teenagers (predominantlymale) and adults ages 21 to 25. For its youngerreaders, the magazine concentrates primarilyon popular culture and typical areas of teenage

interest, such as the mall and school. Older, moresophisticated readers are drawn to its humoroustake on politics, government and world affairs.It's an unusual mix that manages to work.

Politically neutral, Mad has tweaked the nose ofevery president since Eisenhower, but it went fromtweaks to roundhouse punches when George W.Bush took office. In fact, Mad's coverage of themismanagement of the Iraq war and the Bushadministration's often bizarre approach to thewar on terrorism has resulted in some of the mostscathing satire in the magazine's history. The Bushadministration has provided so much fodder thatin 2007 Mad published a collection of its best stuff,titled The Mad War on Bush: A "Shock and Awe"Attack on the Worst President of the 21st Century.

In 2005, Mad premiered a quarterly sisterpublication titled Mad Kids, which isaimed atyoungsters ages 7 through 11.The humor isunderstandably lowbrow, with a lot of jokes aboutbodily excretions and celebrities of interest to

tweens. The goal of the publication is to bringkids into the fold early, in the hope that they willtransition to Mad magazine asthey grow older.

One avenue of potential growth in whichMad has been admittedly lacking is the internet.It hasa website (madmagazine.com) that doeslittle to encourage visitors to return, and a pageon MySpace (myspace.com/worldofmad), whichcontains, among other things, a blog from AlfredE.Neuman written by longtime scribe DickDeBartolo. But other than these two sites,Madhas not embraced the web to the degree that onemight expect from such an iconic publication.

"I think it's inevitable that Mad will have amuch more robust presence on the web;' saysDeBartolo, an admitted gadget freak who haspractically begged his corporate overlords to lethim do more. "There has been some talk [fromthe editors] of moving into a better electronicforum so that we can do more timely humor:'

Mad isa survivor, and its longevitymust be attributed to the remarkabletalent of its writers and artists.

"There's a very high talent threshold that thecreative contributors are obliged to uphold;'observes Desmond Devlin. "Look at FrankJacobs.He started writing for Mad during Eisenhower'sfirst term, and he recently had a song parodymocking Reverend Jeremiah Wright called 'GodDamn America; sung to the tune of'God BlessAmerica: It's a great piece. Frank'stalent, and thoselike it, are the not-so-secret secret of Mad's success."

"Personally, I believe Mad will always bearound one way or another;' adds AI Jaffee."Allprint media isadjusting to the unprecedentedonslaught that technology brings about daily.Will newspapers and magazines be around 25years from now? Sure,but in a different form. Ijust don't see much in the way of paper in ourfuture. But, hey-the trees will be happy:'

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