Cracked
Cracked is a humor magazine, arguably the most successful imitator of the popular MAD Magazine. It was published by Globe Communications beginning in 1958 and is still in existence today, although it is now published only bi-monthly. Of what were once hordes of MAD imitators, Cracked, to its credit, is the only one still in publication.
The mainstay artist of Cracked was John Severin, who had done some work for early MAD comics. Other regulars included girlie artist Bill Ward, and cartoonist Charles Rodrigues. Cracked gained some attention in 1987 by raiding Don Martin from MAD Magazine's group of regular contributors. Martin had left MAD due to a business dispute, but it was still a coup to obtain the services of MAD's "Maddest Artist." Martin worked for Cracked for about six years. Cracked's concurrent attempt to sign MAD's premiere caricaturist Mort Drucker was unsuccessful, but the magazine did acquire longtime MAD contributor Lou Silverstone as editor and writer. Cracked featured a janitor named Sylvester P. Smythe as its mascot.
Though Cracked's sales lagged behind MAD's, it was able to survive for over four decades due to low pay rates and overhead, and by being part of a publishing group that could bundle Cracked in with its other magazines, as a package arrangement for distributors. In the late 1990s, Cracked's parent company, Globe Communications (publisher of the tabloid The Globe), was sold to American Media Inc., the same company that publishes the National Enquirer and the Weekly World News. American Media was only interested in acquiring the company for The Globe, but Cracked came along with the deal. In late 2000, American Media sold Cracked to one of its former Weekly World News employees, Dick Kulpa, who served as both Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. Under Kulpa, Cracked suffered from a lack of financing, poor distribution and poor-quality content. Circulation dropped precipitously under Kulpa and he was forced to turn the magazine into a bi-monthly. The magazine continued its steep decline over the next four years.
In early 2005, Cracked was sold again, this time to a group of investors that planned to redesign, revamp and relaunch the magazine. Their first steps included naming Monty Sarhan as both CEO and Publisher and comic book veteran Tom DeFalco as the new Editor-in-Chief.
Currently published six times a year, Cracked costs 2.95 on newsstands, 55 cents less than MAD.
For other notable imitators, see MAD Magazine.
External links
Categories: Satirical magazines