This site was established in the year 2000, as a forum for the discussion of MAD magazine and it’s impact on the various cultures where it is published internationally. We welcome your input. Tell us how MAD magazine affected you or your culture or how you affected MAD magazine in your country.
MAD magazine has been published in 26 countries and distributed to many more. The first non-US edition of MAD was printed in England in 1959 and ran until 1984. Then came Sweden in 1960. MAD magazine has been available in some countries for over 40 years!
I have collected most of the MADs that have been published in the various countries and the resulting collection is displayed on this website, but, I’d be most interested in hearing from the people who bought and read these magazines. I would like to hear your impression of MAD magazine in your culture.
Share with us your thoughts on MAD. Did the humor seem too American for you? Did you have to know a lot about America to understand the material in MAD? Did your edition contain local material? Why were some editons so very short lived? Was Mad widely popular or was it enjoyed by a small group of weird people? Click on the Email button to share your story.
Otherwise feel free to browse the displays of MAD covers from the various countries. I have a “Want List” page of issues still needed to complete my collection. If you have any of these issues available please click on the email button and contact me.
September 2013 – There remain four publishers of MAD magazine: US, Brazil, Germany and Australia. The US Publisher toyed with the idea of ceasing printing in 2008, but decided to go to quarterly publication with no special editions. They almost immediately changed that to six issues a year and an occasional special edition. It seems to me that it is tough to be MAD magazine at this time when almost everyone has adopted the “MAD magazine sensibility.” Most media have some satirical or parody aspect included. Even the most earnest TV programs, Movies and book seem to have a tint of self-referential content. And, there are so many parodies on TV, in the movies and in books. It is hard to find things for MAD to poke fun at when most things already doing it themselves.
March 2023 – We are still out here, watching the wheels come off the truck. I understand that all non-USA publishers have ceased publication of MAD regular issues. The last non-USA publisher was in Australia and their final issue was # 537, published a couple of months ago. That leaves the USA as the sole publisher of regular issues. It seems that the current US issues are mostly recycled material from older issues. Barely hanging on.. . . .
