Cracked #257
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCracked #257 (October 1990) is a representative artifact of the humor magazine's pivotal transitional decade under Globe Communications, when the title was actively reshaping its creative roster in response to Mad's dominance and the collapse of the National Lampoon. Its contributor lineup—anchored by longtime Cracked mainstay John Severin alongside the defector-from-Mad Don Martin, and unusually including Marvel workhorse Gene Colan—illustrates the eclectic, cross-medium talent pool that Globe assembled to keep the magazine competitive. The issue also documents the early-1990s reduction in publication frequency that reflected the broader contraction of the newsstand humor-magazine market. As a Globe-era issue produced squarely in the window when Cracked was absorbing talent from rival publications, it offers a concrete snapshot of the magazine's ambition to punch above its weight during a period of industry flux.
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Globe Communications acquired Cracked from founder Robert C. Sproul's Major Publications in 1985, taking over with issue #213 and moving operations to Florida. By 1990, Globe was navigating a shrinking humor-magazine market: publication frequency was being reduced from monthly to less regular intervals, costs were being managed through a leaner rotating roster of artists, and the editorial team was drawing on refugees from the recently collapsed National Lampoon as well as veterans who had spent decades at Mad. Issue #257 was produced within this cost-conscious but creatively opportunistic environment, with Globe leveraging Don Martin's high-profile defection from Mad—which had begun in 1987—as a continued selling point for the book.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published October 1990 by Globe Communications, which had owned Cracked since acquiring it from Major Publications in 1985 (at issue #213).
- Interior art confirmed by retailer indexing to include John Severin, Don Martin, Gene Colan, Mike Ricigliano, Vic Martin, Pat Boyette, Don Orehek, Bill Ward, Walter Brogan, Gary Fields, Henry Boltinoff, Stephan De Stefano, Rick Altergott, and Rob Orzechowski.
- Gene Colan's presence is editorially notable: primarily a Marvel Comics stalwart known for Daredevil and Howard the Duck, his appearance in Cracked reflects Globe's willingness to draw talent from across the comic-book industry.
- Don Martin—billed by Cracked as 'Cracked's Crackedest Artist'—was in the midst of his roughly six-year tenure at the magazine (1987–c.1993), having left Mad after a dispute with publisher William M. Gaines.
- John Severin, who had been the magazine's primary parody artist since its earliest issues, continued to anchor the issue's cover and interior parody content.
- The issue appeared during a period when Cracked was reducing its publication frequency from monthly to a less regular schedule as part of Globe's cost-management strategy in a contracting newsstand market.
- No first appearances, landmark storylines, or special landmark issue status (e.g., anniversary, special edition) have been identified for #257 in any indexed source.
- The series ran continuously under Globe Communications from 1985 through late 1999, when Globe was sold to American Media, Inc.; #257 falls in the middle of that Globe tenure.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Cracked Collectors' Edition #88 (1991), Super Cracked #6 (1992), Super Cracked #8 (1994), Super Cracked #10 (1995), Cracked Collectors' Edition #102 (1995), Cracked Monster Party #28 (1995), Super Cracked #9 (1995), Cracked Collectors' Edition #106 (1996), Cracked Collectors' Edition #107 (1996), Super Cracked #14 (1997), Cracked Collectors' Edition #114 (1998), Cracked Blockbuster #13 (1999), Cracked Collectors' Edition #125 (2000)
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