What, ME not cynical ENOUGH?!
Recently, I was chatting with another MAD-Writer friend about the state of the magazine, and the likelihood of its continued existence, when I piped up with my favorite pet theory of the past few years: “Y’know, I’ll bet one of the few things saving it is, nobody at DC Comics wants to be known for the rest of time as ‘the guy who pulled the plug on MAD Magazine.’‘”
My friend’s completely serious reply: “Oh, no — they all HATE us! They’d like nothing better than to kill off MAD!”
Now, even I would’ve been inclined to think that goes too far. Whatever “squeeze” they’re currently putting on MAD — and, in case I haven’t mentioned it, they are! – I’ve always assumed it’s “just business” to them. Except for one recent DC Comics edict that’s struck me as extra-weird since I first heard of it, and which might be the one thing to convince me that the shit-sandwich being force-fed to MAD these days is more than “just business.”
I’m referring to their decision to move the MAD offices. Well, actually, to move and shrink the MAD offices. Not that far of a move; just one floor down in the same building at 1700 Broadway. From their previous offices, specially designed for MAD, taking up all the 5th floor…to approximately half that amount of space, on the 4th floor. Okay, that’s bad enough. But…think about it for a second: even if they had a completely legitimate need to “reclaim” some of MAD’s office space for non-MAD DC Comics activity, why not just have MAD “compress” their offices into half the space on the same floor they’ve already been occupying for over a decade. That way, there’d be less of a move; less disruption of work; and less “MAD-design decor” to have to re-do for new occupants. That would’ve been the “just business”-move. What they actually did seems more like “a move PLUS a ‘message!’” And probably NOT a message like “Gosh, we value and respect you guys!”