Unconditionally Mad, Part B - The First Unauthorized History of Mad Magazine

Is he MAD? Mark Arnold, author of If You’re Cracked, You’re Happy, Volumes Won and Too, has done it again with the very first COMPLETE MAD history since the 1990s. He’s UNCONDITIONALLY MAD!!!

This two-volume set (Part 1 and Part B) covers the entire 70+ year history of MAD magazine.

Part B picks up from Editor Al Feldstein’s retirement in 1984 and new Editors Nick Meglin and John Ficarra taking over. The Usual Gang of Idiots start to retire and pass on and a new generation of Idiots were added to the mix. Meglin retired in 2004 and Ficarra in 2018, when the New York operations were closed and moved to Burbank, California. MAD started over with #1 and another new Editor, Bill Morrison. It was a promising new start until the powers-that-be decided to change MAD over into a reprint title, where it remains to this day.

The lawsuits, the hirings, the firings, the ghosts, the flatbugs, the spies, the FBI, the plants, the gooney birds and the celebrities are all contained here, along with many new and archival interviews with The Usual Gang of Idiots. It’s a story that’s UNCONDITIONALLY MAD!