tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37537508.post559816197749272118..comments2022-04-02T06:28:55.027-07:00Comments on Cracked Magazine Reviews: CRACKED #198: That's an awesome cover!Turbot's Finesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03448072615244695417noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37537508.post-3352354540284519882011-05-12T09:24:49.756-07:002011-05-12T09:24:49.756-07:00Thank you, Anonymous. I have corrected my entry. T...Thank you, Anonymous. I have corrected my entry. Tell your Dad he wrote an excellent bit. <br /><br />-Pierre L.Turbot's Finesthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03448072615244695417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37537508.post-45076056839092937762011-03-22T10:41:52.310-07:002011-03-22T10:41:52.310-07:00THE TRUE STORY OF THE LONE RANGER: Odd...feels lik...THE TRUE STORY OF THE LONE RANGER: Odd...feels like a repeat but it isn't from something I've reviewed...If I find out where it's from, I'll update this. Until then...This is a fun three page bit (they used to do bits this size more often in the past). The Lone Ranger talks about himself, and Tonto (Pronto) and other cowboys and Roy Rogers and, in the end, Lone quits and Sylvester becomes the New Lone Ranger. This is a very good bit. But...the repeat thought still nags...<br /><br />UPDATE: This story was an original written an sumitted by my father Rick Samples. It was not a repeatAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37537508.post-44438455317316462212010-11-11T23:11:36.435-08:002010-11-11T23:11:36.435-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.VeniceBluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831624205020827276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37537508.post-28162773669894172872010-11-11T23:11:24.468-08:002010-11-11T23:11:24.468-08:00Dear Pierre,
I must disagree with some of t...Dear Pierre, <br /><br /> I must disagree with some of the statements that the other fellow made in the comments section of #197. I understand where he is coming from since he stopped reading until Don Martin joined up, but this is what really happened. I have read every issue of Cracked from the mid'70's up to the last issue in 2004 so I know what I'm talking about. <br /><br /> Things started to wind down, as he stated, during the last Sproul issues. Humor magazines in general were selling poorly as video games took over the interests of the young. After issue #212, Paul Laikin took over the editorship and produced some of the worst issues of Cracked every published, with stale jokes and ideas. However, this low point only lasted for a few issues. He hired a young talent, Mort Todd (aka Michael Delle-Femime) who started to offer fresh ideas and insight. Around issue #218, Mort took over the magazine and totally brought Cracked back to life, and made it more fun to read than it had been for many years. He also brought John Severin back around issue #218, got Steve Ditko, Daniel Clowes, and other great talents to work for Cracked. He brought back Bill Ward, Dick Ayers and others, and eventually brought in Don Martin. His issues of Cracked, #218 through to around #255 are some of the best Cracked magazines ever produced, and it is a great injustice to write them off. <br /><br /> I strongly, strongly, urge you to purchase and read the Mort Todd issues and continue reviewing them on this blog. I loved the Sproul issues at their best, but I liked Todd's even more. I know this is a long shot, but if you decide to do this, you might want to skip #212 through #217 because they are mostly horrible, but you should read through and review to 1990 at least. I love the work you have done on this blog, but I will be extremely disapointed if you don't give the Mort Todd (Delle-Femine) issues a chance. Even the letters pages and advertisments in his issues were far more interesting and fun to read than anything Cracked had done before.<br /><br /> After Todd left in 1990, Lou Silverstone and Matty Simmons took over Cracked and created a stable, consistent magazine. It lost the excitement of the Todd issues, but it was still a great humor magazine. It settled into a familiar pattern and could get a little dull at times as a result, but it was well-written and drawn, and I would say, just as good as the Sproul issues at this point too.<br /><br /> It wasn't until the late '90's when the gross-out humor started to appear as our culture itself started to go downhill at a fast rate. When Dick Kulpa took over the magazine in the early 2000's, the magazine really took a nosedive in quality with an abundance of elementary school and base humor. The last few issues of Cracked edited by Scott Gosar and Marten Jallad brought back some of the former glory and the magazine became respectable, and quite good again, but this only last for four or five issues until the magazine ended. We will not speak of the newer Maxim Cracked which I don't consider part of Cracked's history. The magazine really ended in 2004.<br /><br /> In conclusion, I beg of you to read and review the Mort Todd issues. You have to at least give them a shot. They are so much fun to read, I can't imagine why you wouldn't be thrilled. (But skip #213 to #217). <br /><br /> Sincrely, <br /> Tom Waters (collector, reader and owner of hundreds of humor magazines from the '50's to the present)VeniceBluehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831624205020827276noreply@blogger.com