MAD #12 comes out tomorrow and does not contain NEW material from Dick DeBartolo. That ends a streak going back to the June 1966 dated MAD and lasting to the February 2020 dated MAD, encompassing 459 issues!
It’s also very much worth noting that this issue of MAD magazine is the first one since issue #103 (June 1966) that does not features a new byline by MAD‘s MADDEST WRITER Dick DeBartolo. That’s a span of 54 years and 459 issues that featured something new written by Dick De. Dick does have his brilliant “MAD‘s Reality Street” reprinted here so his work is represented, but this is the end of one of the most (maybe THE most) prolific streaks of continuous work in a single publication by a writer in comics history [emphasis added].
Irony: MAD #12 is TV themed, and Dick’s first contribution to MAD was about TV. And for 50+ years Dick was one of the regular writers of MAD’s TV satires. Now the streak ends with a TV issue.
So close runner-up Sergio Aragonés takes on the mantle of current record holder.
Let’s have Mark Evanier break it down:
So who, I hear you wondering, now holds the record for the most consecutive issues of MAD to contain something by them? Sergio Aragonés.
Sergio did his first work in MAD in #76 … but due to a problem with mail delivery, Sergio was absent from #110 so his streak started again with #111. He has had new material in every issue since then so Sergio has been in 451 consecutive issues. Dick’s streak ended with 459 issues…so assuming MAD continues to publish and that MAD continues buying new material each month, Sergio will surpass Dick’s record soon. Will he make it? You still have time to get a bet down.
Sergio has two features in MAD #12 (not counting his Marginals), a TV reprint
and a brand new edition of one of his occasional features:
Uhh… a huge part of the explanation for DeBartolo’s absence is that Mad is now essentially a reprint book so, you know, just so much material being bought. (And with the switch to reprints is a switch of editors.)