CRACKED

CRACKED Magazine is one of America's oldest national humor magazines, and the most successful imitator of the popular MAD Magazine.

Staff

The magazine's first editor was Sol Brodsky, who was better known as a journeyman artist, inker, and behind-the-scenes assistant to Stan Lee at Atlas and Marvel Comics.

Related Topics:
Sol Brodsky - Stan Lee - Atlas - Marvel Comics

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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 better known as CRACKED's house cartoonist. The magazine also featured girlie artist Bill Ward, and gag cartoonist Charles Rodrigues. In later years, the magazine was a useful training ground for future independent comic book stars Rick Altergott, Dan Clowes and Peter Bagge.

Related Topics:
John Severin - EC - Comics - Bill Ward - Charles Rodrigues - Rick Altergott - Dan Clowes - Peter Bagge

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Other artists of note contributed less frequently to CRACKED, some appearing in just a single issue or two. Among these are both former and future "MAD" artists such as Jack Davis, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, Angelo Torres, Basil Wolverton, Bill Wray, and Tom Richmond, as well as Marvel Comics regulars Steve Ditko and Gene Colan. Unfortunately for "CRACKED", the magazine 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.

Related Topics:
Jack Davis - Will Elder - Al Jaffee - Angelo Torres - Basil Wolverton - Bill Wray - Tom Richmond - Marvel Comics - Steve Ditko - Gene Colan

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CRACKED's original publisher, Robert C. Sproul's Major Publications, was a house that 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.

Related Topics:
Robert C. Sproul - Warren Comics - 1960s - Fangoria - Famous Monsters of Filmland - 1980s

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Mad Raid

In 1987, CRACKED made waves in the comics industry by 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 in a tweak at their rival, was sometimes billed 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.

Related Topics:
Don Martin - Mort Drucker - Lou Silverstone - Jerry DeFuccio

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