Information AboutCracked |
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''CRACKED Magazine'' is one of America's oldest national Humor Magazine s, and the most successful imitator of the popular '' MAD Magazine ''. Begun in 1958 , ''CRACKED'' achieved a niche as the most dogged and durable of ''MAD's'' copycat competitors, long outlasting all the others. CRACKED shamelessly aped MAD's layouts and subject matter, even to the point of featuring a dumb, wide-jowled mascot with a middle initial named Sylvester P. Smythe on its covers (see Alfred E. Neuman ). The Smythe character is ''CRACKED's'' "janitor." STAFF The magazine's first editor was Sol Brodsky , who was better known as a journeyman artist and later production manager and a publishing vice president at Marvel Comics . Artists Some notable artists have regularly appeared in ''CRACKED's'' pages, in particular John Severin , who had done some work for early ''MAD'' and EC Comics but would come to be known as ''CRACKED's'' house cartoonist. The magazine also featured Good Girl Art ist Bill Ward , and gag cartoonist Charles Rodrigues . In later years, the magazine was a useful training ground for such future independent comic book creators as Rick Altergott , Dan Clowes , and Peter Bagge . Other notable artists who contributed at least once to ''CRACKED'' include such ''MAD'' veterans as Jack Davis , Will Elder , Al Jaffee , Angelo Torres , Basil Wolverton , and such future contributors as Bill Wray , and Tom Richmond . Others included Marvel Comics regulars Steve Ditko and Gene Colan . "CRACKED", however, was never able to attract and retain the level of talent that the better-paying, better-selling MAD could. For almost 40 years, the mainstay artist of ''CRACKED'' was Severin; he would frequently illustrate multiple articles in the same issue. ''CRACKED's'' original publisher, Robert C. Sproul 's Major Publications , generally imitated other companies' successes in various genres, such as westerns, men's adventure, and the Warren Comics mid- 1960s revival of horror comics. Many of the ''CRACKED'' contributors would do double-duty on these titles. A number of monster-themed issues were printed under the ''CRACKED'' umbrella, capitalizing on such publications as Fangoria and Famous Monsters Of Filmland . Sproul published ''CRACKED'' into the 1980s . ''Mad'' raid In 1987, ''CRACKED'' made waves in the comics industry by seemingly raiding the legendary Don Martin from ''MAD Magazine's'' group of regular contributors. While Martin had already left ''MAD'' due to a business dispute, it was still a coup to obtain the services of "''MAD'' 's Maddest Artist" Martin worked for ''CRACKED'' for about six years, and the magazine, in a tweak at its rival, billed him as "''CRACKED'' 's Crackedest Artist". ''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. Former ''MAD'' associate editor Jerry DeFuccio also worked at ''CRACKED'' for a short period. HISTORY 1990s In the 1990s , ''CRACKED'' also benefited from the collapse of the National Lampoon , picking up Andy Simmons as an editor, as well as such former Lampoon contributors as Ron Barrett, Randy Jones, and Ed Subitzky. Though ''CRACKED's'' sales always lagged far behind those of ''MAD'', ''CRACKED'' survived and thrived for over four decades through low pay rates and overhead and by being part of large publishing groups that could bundle ''Cracked'' in with its other magazines as a package arrangement for distributors. ''Cracked'' also appeared monthly during the period when ''MAD'' was being published just 8 times a year, thus picking up readership from ''MAD'' fans that couldn't wait out the six weeks for their next "comedy fix." The magazine would sometimes include attention-grabbing giveaways inside its pages, such as iron-ons, stickers, or postcards. Rise and Fall At its height, ''CRACKED's'' circulation might have been a third of MAD's, with the overall total generally rising or falling along with the bigger magazine's fortunes. But at its nadir in the 2000s, this sales figure plunged to around 25,000-35,000 per bi-monthly issue, or about one-eighth as many sales as a monthly issue of MAD (whose circulation had also plummeted from its mid- 1970s peak). In late 1999, ''CRACKED's'' then-parent company, Globe Communications (publisher of the national tabloid '' The Globe ''), was sold to American Media Inc., the company that publishes the tabloids '' The National Enquirer '' and the '' Weekly World News ''. American Media's primary interest in the deal was in acquiring its rival, '' The Globe '', but ''CRACKED'' came along as part of the transaction. American Media moved Globe Communication's New York City operations to Florida , where American Media was headquartered. As a result, ''CRACKED's'' offices moved to Florida as well. Most of the magazine's long time staff of editors and writers refused to move to Florida and the result was an almost complete turnover in ''CRACKED's'' staff. Published reports indicate that American Media never had an interest in supporting the magazine, which was only selling in the high five figures, compared with AMI's multi-million-selling line of tabloids. ''CRACKED's'' distribution under American Media grew increasingly spotty. Attempted Rejuvenation In late 2000, American Media sold ''CRACKED'' to one of its former '' Weekly World News '' employees, Dick Kulpa , who became both Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of ''CRACKED''. Under Kulpa, ''CRACKED'' suffered from a lack of financing to go along with its weakened distribution. Circulation continued to drop precipitously, and Kulpa was forced to turn the magazine into a bi-monthly. After being offered a substantial pay cut, signature artist John Severin parted company with the magazine. Some of the magazine's remaining freelancers provided work for free, hoping ''CRACKED'' would eventually become profitable again, but this did not happen. In an attempt at publicity, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen was named as the magazine's new "publisher," but this failed to spark interest. In an oddity, ''CRACKED'' was at the center of the 2001 Anthrax scare. An anonymous letter containing Anthrax powder was sent to American Media Inc. in September 2001 , killing one employee. ''Cracked's'' offices were still in the same building, and thus the magazine was among the publications that had to be evacuated. New ownership In early 2005 , Kulpa sold ''CRACKED'' to a group of Asian, Arab, and American investors who announced plans to revive ''CRACKED'' with a new editorial focus and redesign. Its first steps included naming entrepreneur Monty Sarhan as both CEO and publisher. Sarhan also announced ambitious plans to expand the ''CRACKED'' brand into other media. A flurry of new staff announcements followed, including former Marvel Comics promotions chief Sven Larsen as associate publisher, and Justin Droms and former Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco as editors. Hollywood producer Thom Mount joined the company's board of directors, and Zena Tsarfin , former managing editor of the Hip-hop magazine '' XXL '', was named to that position at ''CRACKED''. Named as contributing editors were comics Darren Kane and Jesse Falcon , former ''Spy'' staffer Jonathan Yevin , and former ''CRACKED'' Editor-in-Chief Mort Todd . Michael Hobson , the former publisher of Marvel Comics and Scholastic Books , was named a senior advisor, and Neal Pollack was hired as an "editor-at-large." Late in 2005, YankeePotRoast.org co-founders Geoff Wolinetz , Nick Jezarian and Josh Abraham were also named as contributing editors, and Jay Pinkerton, former managing editor of ''National Lampoon,'' joined the company's full-time staff. Todd v. Sarhan Several months after rejoining ''Cracked'', Todd parted company with the revamped magazine, complaining to the Comics Journal about low pay rates and Work-for-hire issues of Copyright . Todd complained, "With each visit to the offices I got more disspirited as I saw the direction the magazine was taking. As has been well publicized, ''Cracked'' was, instead of ripping off ''MAD,'' going to rip off '' Maxim ''... A lot of 'revolutionary' humor ideas they've come up with are ones that have been overplayed for decades and ones I rejected for good reason 20 years ago ''Cracked'' 's editor ". A response credited to CEO Sarhan appeared on this Wikipedia page, in which he was quoted saying, "Mort may not have liked being a freelancer and answering to editors, but it's disingenous to say that the content was an issue, especially considering the juvenile subject matter of the old ''Cracked''". However, these quotes existed nowhere else. A more lengthy and verifiable response from Sarhan was posted on Cracked.com . In part, Sarhan wrote: "My impression of Mort was that he was stuck in a time warp, wanted to relive his personal "glory days" when he edited CRACKED and didn’t get what we were trying to do.... A Contributing Editor is a freelancer with whom we have a relationship with. That is all that the title means here at CRACKED. He's a person who is a regular contributor to the magazine, but he is not on staff.... Mort decided to quit as a Contributing Editor because, he said, he had a few TV projects in development. My personal opinion is that he was stuck in the CRACKED of the past and that he didn't like being a freelancer, answering to editors far younger than him here at CRACKED and having his ideas regularly rejected. If your work isn't going to get published, it makes no sense to stay.... Anyone who has spent five minutes on this website knows that we are not a MAXIM clone. It's a ridiculous assertion. We focus on comedy and humor, not women in bikinis. Yes, it's true that we look to MAXIM as a guide for some things. After all, since it's launch over eight years ago, it has gone on to become one of the most successful magazine titles ever. Who wouldn't want to emulate that success?" 2000s The company spent most of 2005 accumulating contributors and preparing for its relaunch. A new issue of Cracked had been promised for January 2006, but this did not occur. The company has since announced its intention to resume publication by September 2006. The Cracked.com website began posting content in October 2005 . REFERENCES
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