Here's a secret about me that few people know--I am addicted to magazines. I can't really give you a reason why, but I do like them alot. I get about 15 delivered to my house by subscription and pick up a lot more at the newsstand. Yes, I realize that it is a sickness but since it is hurting no one, I'll let it be.
There are signs that magazines are a dying art form. Circulation is down and several magazines have closed up shop. Today, I'd like to talk about two of them, Cracked and Premiere.
Now when I talk about Cracked, I'm not talking about the Mad alternative that looked like this:
That one left our plane of existence several years ago. Personally, I always liked Cracked better than Mad. It had John Severin doing the art on it (he did the cover on the left) and Severin is one of the true masters in comic style art. There. I've said. No way I can take it back now.
No, the name Cracked was bought out by a new owner and a new magazine was relaunched last year. Gone was the aspiration to be like Mad magazine. It was replaced by a new mission statement: To be a National Lampoon-style comedy mag for the Maxim generation.
That mission statement alone explains why the magazine was not long for this world. Let me break it down for you:
1. The Maxim generation and witty, National Lampoon satire don't really mix all that well.
2. Maxim has it's fair share of comedy, so the Maxim generation would go there for their humor.
3. The new Cracked just wasn't all that funny.
First off, each of the three issues of this revamp featured photoshopped covers like the one on the right. Those of you who know me know how I feel about photoshopped covers.
Second, the humor wasn't witty at all. It was mean and in bad taste. The editors thought this was enough. After all, you can be mean and in bad taste and be funny. But the three are not mutually exclusive. In other words, just being mean and in bad taste does not make it funny.
I bought each of the three issues of the revamp and didn't laugh at all. And I have a cheap and easy sense of humor.
The best part of the magazine were the interviews and articles about the comedic process. They actually spoke with people who were funny, like Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and tried to get inside their brain. But it was trying to be a comedic magazine and not a magazine about comedy, so it didn't give that much attention to what it was best at.
While I don't mourn Cracked V.2's passing, I do have to say that Premiere's going under hit me kind of hard. It was one of my favorite magazines that I fell out of steady reading of. I picked up the recent issue with Tobey McGuire on it and said to myself "I should really subscribe to this magazine." Too late now.
I did have a subscription once. Back in the late 80's-early 90s. I really like they way they gave us a mix of behind the scenes Hollywood with your typical publicity machine writing. I guess I was in the minority.
If I think about it, I probably could trace my love of movie magazines back to my mother. She grew up in the era of Photoplay and all those magazines. Now, are there any movie magazines left?
So there you go. Two magazines--one long running, one short, leaving print form in the same week. Both will still continue in their online versions. Perhaps that's the wave of the future:no more print magazines, only online. I hope not. It's hard to curl up with a laptop to read before you go to sleep at night.
Bill
[this is good] an online journalist decrying the death of print media? Irony.
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