Kids, Can You Spell Potrzebie?

MAD Magazine recently announced two magazines, one a standard reprint entitled Mad Classics and the second entitled MADKIDS, aimed for ages 6-11. As you might notice from the link, some wonder if the original MAD wasn’t already hitting the tykes. The two times in recent memory I’ve seen MAD read in public it was by children (one of them, awesomely, being female). That proves nothing since one could argue reading MAD in public isn’t something adults do. There’s definitely a market however, since Nickelodeon Magazine has been smartly making fake product labels and gelatinous green goo gross out humor for this set for a while.

Some hope this means the original MAD will tip more adult, but I have a hard time seeing that as the bridge ages of 12-18 are still being served by that edition (a group that would be suspicious of anything labeled “kids” or “teens” anyway). I don’t see MAD needing to be the National Lampoon. The humor already goes after topics that you have to be a bit more up on the world than your average eight-year-old to get. Though it may sound like “A Mad Look at Cheating” is perfect for this set, the actual March 2005 article was about cheating on your spouse. Not something you do until you’re at least twelve.

MADKIDS premieres in 2006 and appears quarterly afterwards.