Writing for the Same Magazine for 54 Years!

MAD magazine logo

Mark Evanier points out an amazing streak of accomplishment — Dick DeBartolo wrote continuously for MAD magazine from 1966 until, well, now. He first contributed in 1962, so his experience with them is even longer, but the streak of unbroken contributions began in summer 1966.

Dick had a piece in every issue after these of the old MAD, the one that ended recently with #550 … the last issue to be produced out of New York. MAD then began to emanate from Burbank, California, where numbering began anew….

MAD #12 comes out next week. There is no new material by Dick DeBartolo in it.

As you may know, MAD has had a lot of trouble lately. Not long ago, there was an announcement that the magazine was going all-reprint. That has not happened. The issues now are mostly reprint. There’s a new cover and a new articles…but not enough new material that one of them could be by Dick.

Evanier points out that that was 459 issues, and Sergio Aragonés has contributed to 451 in a row, and he’s still going, so that record may soon be broken. Still, it’s an amazing accomplishment by DeBartolo, and one that will likely never happen again, since today’s comic and humor publications stop and start a lot more frequently.



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