napoleonherself | So it's true.

I had hoped it was a rumor, devoid of truth, but it isn't. MAD magazine now has advertisements. Real ones.

*shudder*

What prompted this discovery was the fresh new May 2001 issue of MAD that was in the mailbox today. Why was it mailed to me? I don't know. My subscription ran out months ago, and has not been renewed since.

But here it is, on the desk beside me, encased in the oh-so-familiar white paper jacket with an oh-so-cutting jibe against Shrub -- an inexplicably free copy of MAD. Addressed to me. With no 'pay up now or face the consequences' stickers anywhere in sight.

And... there's ads. That's just WRONG.

MAD, I conclude, has jumped the shark. For... gosh... 40 years? ...it operated without any ads save the hilariously spoofed ones its writers and artists created. Now all that's changed. It's pretty hard to mock someone when you depend on their advertising dollars and goodwill, now doesn't it?

Sigh. Alfred E. Neuman, we hardly knew ye. Wear that Nike swoosh proud, son.