Cracked
Encyclopedia
Cracked was an American humor magazine
. Founded in 1958, Cracked proved to be the most durable of the many publications to be launched in the wake of Mad magazine
.
In print, Cracked featured a dumb, wide-cheeked mascot named Sylvester P. Smythe
on its covers (see Alfred E. Neuman
). The Smythe character was Cracked
Cracked
" magazines like Maxim
and FHM
. The new formula, however, was unsuccessful and Cracked again canceled its print magazine in February 2007 after three issues. Later that year, the brand was carried over to a website, owned by Demand Media
.
, who was better known as a journeyman artist and later production manager and a publishing vice president at Marvel Comics
.
Cracked
, generally imitated other companies' successes in various genres, such as westerns, men's adventure, and the Warren Publications mid-1960s revival of horror comics.
Editor Terry Bisson
later recalled, "The whole company was about lowball imitations. The publisher, Robert Sproul, wanted to put out some imitations of western, romance and astrology mags, and I was hired (at about age 27) to put them together because of my romance mag experience... The pseudomags did pretty well (this was a very low end market)." Many of the Cracked contributors would also work 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.
However, even as the company chased publishing trends, its long-running flagship title was Cracked Magazine—or Cracked Mazagine, as its cover often read, deliberately misspelling "magazine". (In the same vein, the magazine's website Cracked.com originally referred to itself as a "wesbite.")
. Severin had done some work for early Mad and a great deal more for EC Comics
' war books, and was one of the pre-eminent artists in western comics, but would come to be best known as Cracked
The magazine also regularly featured good girl art
ist Bill Ward
, comic book stalwart Howard Nostrand
, and gag cartoonists Don Orehek
and 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
. Clowes would later discuss his childhood ambivalence for the magazine with an interviewer: "No one was ever a fan of Cracked. We would buy Mad every month, but about two weeks later we would get anxious for new material. We would tell ourselves, 'OK, we are not going to buy Cracked. Never again!' And we'd hold out for a while, but then as the month dragged on it just became, 'OK, I guess I'll buy Cracked.' Then you'd bring it home, and immediately you'd remember, 'Oh yeah, I hate Cracked!'"
Other name artists who contributed at least once to Cracked include such Mad veterans as Jack Davis
, Will Elder
, Al Jaffee
, and Basil Wolverton
, and such future contributors as Angelo Torres
, Bill Wray
, and Tom Richmond
. Others included Marvel Comics
regulars Steve Ditko
and Gene Colan
. Comics great Jack Kirby
contributed once, in 1960. But for the most part, Cracked found it difficult to attract and retain the level of talent that the better-paying, better-selling Mad could. Richmond, who drew four articles for Cracked, reported on his webpage that he was paid just $100 for a finished page, a small fraction of what he earned for his first Mad assignment. Richmond also wrote about the bad feeling caused by his short tenure at Cracked: "[Editor Dick Kulpa] was very upset about my leaving Cracked for MAD, but let’s be real… not doing so would have been the same as a minor league Triple-A shortstop refusing a call up to the majors. That was no decision at all." One publisher who looked into buying the Cracked operation felt that Mad was "in a class by itself" and that "Cracked couldn't top Mad's lineup".
was then an investigative newscaster).
One of the magazine's longest-running features was "Shut-Ups," which were two-panel gags in which a character would make an observation or excuse in the first panel, and then be told to "SHUT UP" in the second, as the true situation was visually revealed. "Hudd & Dini," a gag strip about two convicts' failed schemes to escape prison, also ran frequently, as did a Western strip called "Sagebrush." In the 1990s, later recurring features included "Spies vs. Sabs", "Hang-ups", the "Talking Blob", and "the Uggly Family".
Sylvester P. Smythe was Cracked magazine's imitation of Alfred E. Neuman, the mascot of Mad Magazine. Smythe generally appeared on every cover of the magazine, and was typically portrayed as short, blond, wide-cheeked and mute. Smythe's official occupation was janitor for Cracked; thus, he typically appeared in overalls, carrying a mop or sweeper. He sometimes had a smiley button on his cap, and a polka-dotted handkerchief stuffed into a hip pocket. A 1998 reader contest led to Smythe finally getting a full middle name: "Phooey."
became editor of Cracked magazine at age 23. In 1987, Cracked made waves in the comic industry by seemingly raiding cartoonist Don Martin from rival Mad, after Martin's 32-year career there. Martin had already left Mad due to a business dispute months earlier.
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 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.
Though sales of Cracked always lagged far behind those of Mad, Cracked endured for more than 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.
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
. In 1995, Greg Grabianski began his career as a writer and associate editor at Cracked (occasionally writing under the pseudonym Judd Stomp) before going on write for TV and film projects like the Scary Movie franchise and Beavis & Butthead.
In late 1999, Cracked
), 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. Writer/editor Barry Dutter said, "One thing you have to realize is that AMI never wanted Cracked; it was just part of a package they bought from Globe Communications."
American Media moved Globe Communications' New York City
operations to Florida
, where American Media was headquartered. As a result, Cracked
In 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. Combined with Cracked
Star Wars
comic editor Peet Janes briefly joined the staff, but financial difficulties at the magazine ended his tenure very quickly. Later, after being offered a substantial pay cut, signature artist John Severin
parted company with the magazine.
Cracked was near 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
In 2004, new editors Scott Gosar and Marten Jallad, and now Promotions Editor Mark Van Woert (under the direction of now-Executive Editor Kulpa) attempted one last resuscitation of the original title. In an effort to generate publicity, Cheap Trick
guitarist Rick Nielsen
was named as the magazine's new "publisher," but this failed to spark interest. The 365th and final issue featured an "Election Year" cover by science fiction
artist Frank Kelly Freas
, who'd provided many of Mad magazine's covers from 1958-62.
as both CEO and publisher. Former Editor Mort Todd was named a contributing editor but soon left again. Writer Neal Pollack
was named "editor-at-large."
On August 15, 2006, the revamped Cracked Magazine finally appeared. The first issue was a significant departure from Cracked
, Stuff
and FHM
, although the media website Gawker.com
wrote, "Very little remains of the old Cracked – a Mad ripoff that had tread water in various incarnations for almost half a century. Much was made of the new direction now ripping off Maxim instead, but aside from a "look and feel" resemblance in terms of layout, the much more obvious (attempted) homage runs to Spy
."
After just three poor-selling issues, the failing magazine was canceled in February 2007. Citing distribution problems for its demise, editor Jay Pinkerton claimed that the remaining staff would be focusing its energies toward the Cracked website, as well as unspecified book projects. The company's website, Cracked.com, continued on and has become known for its humorous lists and compilations, for example, "The 9 Most Obnoxious Memes to Ever Escape the Web", "6 Bizarre Forms of Discrimination That Can Lose You a Job" A book collection in that vein, You Might be a Zombie, and Other Bad News, was published in 2010.
A two-volume history of the magazine, If You're Cracked, You're Happy, was published in June 2011.
Humor magazine
A humor magazine is a magazine specifically designed to deliver humorous content to its readership. These publications often offer satire, but some put an emphasis on cartoons, one-liners or humorous essays.-Out-of-print humor magazines:...
. Founded in 1958, Cracked proved to be the most durable of the many publications to be launched in the wake of Mad magazine
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
.
In print, Cracked featured a dumb, wide-cheeked mascot named Sylvester P. Smythe
Sylvester P. Smythe
Sylvester P. Smythe was Cracked magazine's mascot, appearing in every issue and on virtually every cover. He was typically portrayed as short, blond, wide-cheeked and mute. He was seen by some as an imitation of Alfred E. Neuman, the mascot of Mad magazine...
on its covers (see Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot and cover boy of Mad magazine. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed and named by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman...
). The Smythe character was Cracked
Cracked
Lad culture
Lad culture is a subculture commonly associated with Britpop music of the 1990s."The image of the 'lad' or 'new lad' arose in the early 1990s as a generally middle-class figure espousing attitudes conventionally attributed to the working classes"...
" magazines like Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
and FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
. The new formula, however, was unsuccessful and Cracked again canceled its print magazine in February 2007 after three issues. Later that year, the brand was carried over to a website, owned by Demand Media
Demand Media
Demand Media, Inc. is an online media company and content farm that operates online brands such as eHow, and Cracked, and is known for creating online content through its Demand Media Studios division based on a combination of measured consumer demand and predicted ROI...
.
Early staff
The magazine's first editor was Sol BrodskySol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects...
, who was better known as a journeyman artist and later production manager and a publishing vice president at Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
Cracked
Major Publications
Major Publications, also known was Major Magazines, was a publisher specializing in comic magazines, most notably the satirical magazine Cracked, the most durable imitator of Mad magazine. Founded by Robert C...
, generally imitated other companies' successes in various genres, such as westerns, men's adventure, and the Warren Publications mid-1960s revival of horror comics.
Editor Terry Bisson
Terry Bisson
Terry Ballantine Bisson is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his short stories...
later recalled, "The whole company was about lowball imitations. The publisher, Robert Sproul, wanted to put out some imitations of western, romance and astrology mags, and I was hired (at about age 27) to put them together because of my romance mag experience... The pseudomags did pretty well (this was a very low end market)." Many of the Cracked contributors would also work on these titles. A number of monster-themed issues were printed under the Cracked umbrella, capitalizing on such publications as Fangoria
Fangoria (magazine)
Fangoria is an internationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979.-Planning:...
and Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland is a genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.-Magazine history :...
. Sproul published Cracked into the 1980s.
However, even as the company chased publishing trends, its long-running flagship title was Cracked Magazine—or Cracked Mazagine, as its cover often read, deliberately misspelling "magazine". (In the same vein, the magazine's website Cracked.com originally referred to itself as a "wesbite.")
Artists
Some notable artists have appeared in CrackedJohn Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
. Severin had done some work for early Mad and a great deal more for EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
' war books, and was one of the pre-eminent artists in western comics, but would come to be best known as Cracked
The magazine also regularly featured good girl art
Good girl art
Good girl art is found in drawings or paintings which feature a strong emphasis on attractive women no matter what the subject or situation. GGA was most commonly featured in comic books, pulp magazines and crime fiction...
ist Bill Ward
Bill Ward (comics)
William Hess Ward , known as Bill Ward, was an American cartoonist notable as a good girl artist and creator of the risqué comics character Torchy.-Early life and career:...
, comic book stalwart Howard Nostrand
Howard Nostrand
Howard Nostrand was an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for his 1950s comic book stories and his 1959-60 syndicated comic strip Bat Masterson, based on the television series.-Early life:...
, and gag cartoonists Don Orehek
Don Orehek
Don Orehek is an American freelance cartoonist who has contributed gag cartoons to a wide variety of newspapers, magazines and books...
and Charles Rodrigues. In later years, the magazine was a useful training ground for such future independent comic book creators as Rick Altergott
Rick Altergott
Rick Altergott is a professional illustrator and cartoonist, residing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with his wife, fellow cartoonist Ariel Bordeaux. Their collaborative comic book Raisin Pie is published by Fantagraphics....
, Dan Clowes, and Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of Buddy Bradley, Hate, Neat Stuff, Martini Baton, and Sweatshop, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced expectations of middle-class American youth...
. Clowes would later discuss his childhood ambivalence for the magazine with an interviewer: "No one was ever a fan of Cracked. We would buy Mad every month, but about two weeks later we would get anxious for new material. We would tell ourselves, 'OK, we are not going to buy Cracked. Never again!' And we'd hold out for a while, but then as the month dragged on it just became, 'OK, I guess I'll buy Cracked.' Then you'd bring it home, and immediately you'd remember, 'Oh yeah, I hate Cracked!'"
Other name artists who contributed at least once to Cracked include such Mad veterans as Jack Davis
Jack Davis (cartoonist)
Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...
, Will Elder
Will Elder
William Elder was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art, but is best known for a zany cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952....
, Al Jaffee
Al Jaffee
Abraham Jaffee , known as Al Jaffee, is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine Mad, including his trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in. As of 2010, Jaffee remains a regular in the magazine after 55 years and is its longest-running contributor...
, and Basil Wolverton
Basil Wolverton
Basil Wolverton was an American cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer-artist and professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", whose many publishers included Marvel Comics and Mad.His unique, humorously grotesque drawings have elicited a...
, and such future contributors as Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many comic books, as well as a long-running regular slot in Mad magazine, typically film or television parodies.-Biography:...
, Bill Wray
Bill Wray
William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...
, and Tom Richmond
Tom Richmond (illustrator)
Tom Richmond is an American freelance humorous illustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many national and international publications since 1990.-Career:...
. Others included Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
regulars Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
and Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
. Comics great Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
contributed once, in 1960. But for the most part, Cracked found it difficult to attract and retain the level of talent that the better-paying, better-selling Mad could. Richmond, who drew four articles for Cracked, reported on his webpage that he was paid just $100 for a finished page, a small fraction of what he earned for his first Mad assignment. Richmond also wrote about the bad feeling caused by his short tenure at Cracked: "[Editor Dick Kulpa] was very upset about my leaving Cracked for MAD, but let’s be real… not doing so would have been the same as a minor league Triple-A shortstop refusing a call up to the majors. That was no decision at all." One publisher who looked into buying the Cracked operation felt that Mad was "in a class by itself" and that "Cracked couldn't top Mad's lineup".
Articles and features
A typical issue of Cracked included two TV or movie parodies illustrated by Severin. The magazine also published "interview" articles featuring the recurring character Nanny Dickering (Nancy DickersonNancy Dickerson
Nancy Dickerson was an American pioneering radio and television newswoman. As famous as a celebrity and socialite as she was for her journalism, she later became an award-winning independent producer of documentaries....
was then an investigative newscaster).
One of the magazine's longest-running features was "Shut-Ups," which were two-panel gags in which a character would make an observation or excuse in the first panel, and then be told to "SHUT UP" in the second, as the true situation was visually revealed. "Hudd & Dini," a gag strip about two convicts' failed schemes to escape prison, also ran frequently, as did a Western strip called "Sagebrush." In the 1990s, later recurring features included "Spies vs. Sabs", "Hang-ups", the "Talking Blob", and "the Uggly Family".
Sylvester P. Smythe was Cracked magazine's imitation of Alfred E. Neuman, the mascot of Mad Magazine. Smythe generally appeared on every cover of the magazine, and was typically portrayed as short, blond, wide-cheeked and mute. Smythe's official occupation was janitor for Cracked; thus, he typically appeared in overalls, carrying a mop or sweeper. He sometimes had a smiley button on his cap, and a polka-dotted handkerchief stuffed into a hip pocket. A 1998 reader contest led to Smythe finally getting a full middle name: "Phooey."
International editions
In the mid-1970s, following the Mad business model, Cracked moved into foreign markets. In Great Britain, they produced Cracked British Edition, which consisted entirely of reprinted material from the American magazine, some of it dating back several years. In Germany, there were two publications that included Cracked reprints. First was Kaputt, which ran from 1974–1983; it was followed by Stupid, which ran from 1983-1984. Both magazines used original material in addition to the translated Cracked reprints. Articles were often colorized, particularly in Stupid, or printed in black and white with a single added color. Covers were original, but were often reworkings of previous Cracked covers. It was published in Brazil under the name Pancada by Editora Abril, from 1979 to the mid 80's. The content was translated from the english original and adapted to the brazilian reality of the time (the Democrat and Republican party were substituted respectively by ARENA and MDB, political parties of that era), and football jokes were made into soccer jokes. Most covers where reused from the original american magazine, but some were made by local artists.Mad raid
In 1985, Mort ToddMort Todd
Mort Todd , is an American who has spent his career in comics, animation and entertainment, notably as the editor-in-chief of Cracked magazine, and later, Marvel Music...
became editor of Cracked magazine at age 23. In 1987, Cracked made waves in the comic industry by seemingly raiding cartoonist Don Martin from rival Mad, after Martin's 32-year career there. Martin had already left Mad due to a business dispute months earlier.
Martin worked for Cracked for about six years, and the magazine, in a tweak at its rival, billed him as "Cracked
Lou Silverstone
Lou Silverstone is a comedy writer who was one of "The Usual Gang of Idiots" at MAD Magazine from 1962 to 1990.At MAD, he was primarily, though by no means exclusively, a writer of television and movie parodies. His first-ever contribution was "Bananaz," a parody of Bonanza...
as editor and writer. Former Mad associate editor Jerry DeFuccio
Jerry DeFuccio
Jerry DeFuccio was an American comic book writer and editor, known primarily for his work at Mad, where he was an associate editor for 25 years. In addition to his work on that magazine, he was closely involved in many of the Mad paperbacks, editing Clods' Letters to Mad and many other reprints...
also worked at Cracked for a short period.
Though sales of Cracked always lagged far behind those of Mad, Cracked endured for more than 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.
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
Ron Barrett
Ron Barrett is a cartoonist and artist best known for illustrating Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He is a graduate of the High School of Industrial Art, now the High School of Art and Design, in New York City. While still in high school he was an apprentice in the studio of Lucian Bernhard, the...
, Randy Jones and Ed Subitzky
Ed Subitzky
Ed Subitzky, full name Edward Jack Subitzky is an American writer and artist, who is best known as a cartoonist, comics artist, and humorist/humor writer. He has also worked as a television comedy writer and performer, a writer and performer of radio comedy, and a writer of radio drama, as well as...
. In 1995, Greg Grabianski began his career as a writer and associate editor at Cracked (occasionally writing under the pseudonym Judd Stomp) before going on write for TV and film projects like the Scary Movie franchise and Beavis & Butthead.
Rise and decline
At its height, CrackedIn late 1999, Cracked
The Globe (tabloid)
Globe is a supermarket tabloid first published North America on November 10, 1954 in Montreal, Canada as Midnight by Joe Azaria and John Vader and became the chief competitor to the National Enquirer during the 1960s. In 1978 it changed its name to the Midnight Globe after its publisher, Globe...
), was sold to American Media Inc., the company that publishes the tabloids The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer
The National Enquirer is an American supermarket tabloid now published by American Media Inc . Founded in 1926, the tabloid has gone through a variety of changes over the years....
and the Weekly World News
Weekly World News
The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become...
. American Media's primary interest in the deal was in acquiring its rival, The Globe, but Cracked came along as part of the transaction. Writer/editor Barry Dutter said, "One thing you have to realize is that AMI never wanted Cracked; it was just part of a package they bought from Globe Communications."
American Media moved Globe Communications' New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
operations to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where American Media was headquartered. As a result, Cracked
In 2000, American Media sold Cracked to one of its former Weekly World News employees, Dick Kulpa
Dick Kulpa
Dick Kulpa is an American cartoonist best known for his work for Cracked and Weekly World News.-Early career:Dick Kulpa got his start in the cartooning business on Christmas Day in 1969 when his hometown Illinois weekly newspaper, the Loves Park Post, published his first cartoon strip, Double Eagle...
, who became both Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Cracked. Under Kulpa, Cracked suffered from a lack of financing. Combined with Cracked
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
comic editor Peet Janes briefly joined the staff, but financial difficulties at the magazine ended his tenure very quickly. Later, after being offered a substantial pay cut, signature artist John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
parted company with the magazine.
Cracked was near the center of the 2001 anthrax scare
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...
. An anonymous letter containing anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
powder was sent to American Media Inc. in September 2001, killing one employee. Cracked
In 2004, new editors Scott Gosar and Marten Jallad, and now Promotions Editor Mark Van Woert (under the direction of now-Executive Editor Kulpa) attempted one last resuscitation of the original title. In an effort to generate publicity, Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E...
guitarist Rick Nielsen
Rick Nielsen
-External links:* * *...
was named as the magazine's new "publisher," but this failed to spark interest. The 365th and final issue featured an "Election Year" cover by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
artist Frank Kelly Freas
Frank Kelly Freas
Frank Kelly Freas , called the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists", was a science fiction and fantasy artist with a career spanning more than 50 years.-Early life, education, and personal life:...
, who'd provided many of Mad magazine's covers from 1958-62.
Sale and rebirth as Cracked.com
In early 2005, Kulpa sold Cracked to Teshkeel Media Group, a federation of Arab, Asian, and American investors, who announced plans to revive Cracked with a new editorial focus and redesign. Its first steps included naming entrepreneur Monty SarhanMonty Sarhan
Monty Sarhan is a Vice President at Viacom, where he has served in several capacities over the years . He currently works at Epix_, the premium movie channel that is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures, MGM, Lionsgate and Viacom...
as both CEO and publisher. Former Editor Mort Todd was named a contributing editor but soon left again. Writer Neal Pollack
Neal Pollack
Neal Pollack is an American satirist, novelist, short story writer, and journalist. He lives in Austin, Texas. Pollack has written six books: The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, Never Mind the Pollacks, Beneath the Axis of Evil, Alternadad, Stretch, and Jewball. He is a member of...
was named "editor-at-large."
On August 15, 2006, the revamped Cracked Magazine finally appeared. The first issue was a significant departure from Cracked
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
, Stuff
Stuff (magazine)
Stuff is a men's magazine featuring reviews of consumer electronics, and other articles of interest to a predominantly male audience.- UK edition :...
and FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...
, although the media website Gawker.com
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
wrote, "Very little remains of the old Cracked – a Mad ripoff that had tread water in various incarnations for almost half a century. Much was made of the new direction now ripping off Maxim instead, but aside from a "look and feel" resemblance in terms of layout, the much more obvious (attempted) homage runs to Spy
Spy (magazine)
Spy was a satirical monthly magazine founded in 1986 by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips, Jr., its first publisher. After one folding and a rebirth, it ceased publication in 1998...
."
After just three poor-selling issues, the failing magazine was canceled in February 2007. Citing distribution problems for its demise, editor Jay Pinkerton claimed that the remaining staff would be focusing its energies toward the Cracked website, as well as unspecified book projects. The company's website, Cracked.com, continued on and has become known for its humorous lists and compilations, for example, "The 9 Most Obnoxious Memes to Ever Escape the Web", "6 Bizarre Forms of Discrimination That Can Lose You a Job" A book collection in that vein, You Might be a Zombie, and Other Bad News, was published in 2010.
A two-volume history of the magazine, If You're Cracked, You're Happy, was published in June 2011.
External links
- Cracked.com, offshoot of the original magazine
- Marvel AgeMarvel AgeMarvel Adventures is an imprint of Marvel Comics intended for younger audiences, including small children. Unlike the standard comics published by Marvel, which often take place in story arcs spanning several issues, each Marvel Adventures comic tells a standalone story.The idea was initially...
#22 (Jan. 1985): "Sol Brodsky Remembered", p. 15 (offline) - Associated Press: In Comeback, Cracked Vows Crass Comedy
- Press release: CRACKED magazine relaunch
- http://www.goingfaster.com/icarus/cracke4.jpgThree panels from the Cracked parody of "Planet of the ApesPlanet of the Apes (1968 film)Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison...
."] Art by John SeverinJohn SeverinJohn Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
. - Cracked Magazine cover gallery
