When I was a kid, my mom used to drive myself and my sister to Safeway every weekend to buy food. It was something I looked forward to because as a kid, I loved buying food that wasn’t good for me. Actually, that’s something I still love to this day. Anyways, when we passed by the magazine rack, I’d often pick up a copy of the latest Mad magazine.
It was entertaining stuff for kid like me, who enjoyed regular features like the movie spoofs, Spy vs. Spy, the awesome artwork of Sergio Aragonés, and of course the iconic fold-in jokes. Along side Mad magazine on the rack, however, was a publication named Cracked. Cracked had no shame in positioning itself as a Mad magazine imitator. If it was possible for me to have distinguishing tastes for corny magazine content, I found Cracked to be not to my liking. I believe I might have bought an issue once just because I was bored but regretted it when I got it home.
Though both magazines have had their readership numbers waver over the years, Cracked has actually ceased publication. Both properties have been remade in different formats. Most of you know that Mad was spun off into a sketch comedy show that competes with my beloved SNL. Cracked itself now lives on through an excellent web site.
As a web site Cracked.com, is one hell of a good read. In my opinion, the best thing about their site is the huge compilations of lists they have. Consider for example, 8 (Pointless) Laws All Comic Book Movies Follow or 8 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Geeks.
Another thing I like about the site is that, given its content, the level of grammar and writing is at a very high level. Similar sites on the web are just rife with mind-numbing spelling and grammatical errors. To see Cracked.com deliver good content in a nicely packaged form just makes me like it more.
Sadly, the site is blocked at EA for “adult content” even though there’s no nudity, so I gotta get my fix at home. Maybe it’s because of lists like The 15 Most Sexually Unappealing Porn Titles .
“Superman IV had the distinction of proving all the critics wrong who claimed that no superhero movie could be worse than Superman III.”Good Stuff!
It’s so true!
You should read 1) Starslip Crisis and 2) Irregular Webcomic. On the second, follow the link to Darths and Droids….you’ll love it.