I recently came across an old edition of MAD Magazine from 1974 that I had kept for 38 years in a bucket with some old Archie comics. In the MAD, issue #171, which cost 50 cents, I rediscovered a section that didn’t make sense to me when I read it as a girl, but it sure does now. It’s called “The MAD Crisis Primer.”
The primer covers 11 chapters of the state of the world in 1974, from “The Ecology Crisis” (Chapter 1) to “The Crisis Crisis” (Chapter 11), penned by the comedy writer Stan Hart and illustrated in classic MAD style by Paul Coker, Jr. In 1974, the United States was embroiled in an energy crisis, hyper inflation, a Middle East crisis, Watergate … it wasn’t pretty.
It’s fascinating to look back nearly four decades and see how much — and how little — things have changed in this country, so I’ll be publishing all 11 Chapters of “The MAD Crisis Primer” in the coming weeks. Take from it what you will, but please leave your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom.
The Energy Crisis! It’s another timely, fascinating look at the state of our world 38 years ago, from another angle. I’ll be posting that installment of MAD’s Crisis Primer next week.
Cartoon: From MAD Magazine No. 171 © E.C. Publications, Inc. Used with Permission.
“The Crises Primer” written by Stan Hart. Art by Paul Coker, Jr., Madmagazine.com
