MAD magazine set to publish kids’ version

What? MAD magazine worry?

No way! The magazine industry may be struggling, but MAD, which has provided madcap satire to generations of readers, is expanding.

MADKIDS, geared to the 6-to-11 set, is due out in November. MAD CLASSICS, “the best of the worst,” as the magazine’s editors love to say, debuted in July.

MAD, first published in 1952 and best identified by its cover – a goofy drawing of Alfred E. Neuman, the curly-haired boy with a gap-tooth smile asking the question “What? Me Worry?” – is seeing a resurgence in its readership, possibly due to the popularity of such satirical television as “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, that rips into the establishment.

With the rise of such off-beat entertainment, MAD saw an opportunity to expand, David McKillips, the magazine’s associate publisher, said in an interview Thursday.

“The time was right for us to build a publishing plan” that draws in youngsters and keeps them reading MAD for many years, McKillips said. “All of the baby boomers, or a little south of that, grew up on MAD magazine. Now it’s time for us as parents to incorporate the MAD brand to our kids,” he said. “Mom and Dad will approve.”

MADKIDS, which will appear on a quarterly basis, is different from anything the magazine has done in the past, McKillips said. It will offer a version of MAD’s famous Spy vs. Spy feature, called Spy vs. Spy Jr. It will also contain activities, games, puzzles and reviews of children’s movies.

MAD CLASSICS, which was first published last month and is to appear eight times a year, is a 100-page color magazine featuring the magazine’s “best of the worst” in terms of spoofs of movies, television shows, political campaigns and satirical takes on national and international events.

MAD’s circulation is about 350,000, McKillips said. Advertising revenues are up 42 percent over 2004, according to Brandweek, an industry publication.

“I think they’ve had a really good year,” said Becky Ebenkamp, Brandweek’s entertainment editor.

Steve Borock, president of Comics Guaranty LLC, a Sarasota, Fla.,-based company that appraises and authenticates magazines and other collectibles, said MAD has always had a special place in the American magazine industry, dating to its founding by publisher William Gaines and editor Harvey Kurtzman, who wanted to satirize popular newspaper comics and movies.

“It’s smart satire,” Borock said. “It changes with the times. It’s always had a phenomenal way of looking at society.”

And for MAD readers who have held onto the very first issue published in November 1952, there is a reward: that magazine is now worth $32,200, Borock said. It sold for 10 cents at the time.