Cracked #260
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCracked #260 is a vivid cross-section of early-1990s pop-culture satire, cramming an extraordinary number of then-current properties — The Simpsons at the peak of 'Bartmania,' the 1990 Darkman film, the Spider-Man comic-book boom, Matlock, Murphy Brown, and the Arsenio Hall Show — into a single issue of Mad's most durable competitor. Its comic-book parody segment, which simultaneously riffs on Spider-Man, The Simpsons, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles craze, captures the moment when those three franchises dominated youth culture simultaneously. The issue also illustrates how Cracked used its signature roster of cameo characters — Horror icons like Frankenstein's Monster, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees appearing alongside Saturday-morning staples and prime-time sitcom casts — as a shorthand for the broad, cross-demographic humor that kept the magazine alive well into the 1990s. As part of the run published under Globe Communications (which had acquired the title from the original Major Publications), the issue sits at a transitional editorial moment for Cracked before its frequency declined further through the decade.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Cracked was founded in 1958 by Robert C. Sproul's Major Publications, with Sol Brodsky — later a Marvel Comics production executive — as its first editor, and it grew into the longest-lived of the many Mad imitators. Globe Communications, the Canadian-founded tabloid publisher that had bought Major Publications, was the issuing house for Cracked in 1991; MyComicShop's records list the issue as published by 'Major Magazines' (a trade imprint) in May 1991, consistent with Globe's ownership of the Major Publications catalog. Issue #260 was produced by the long-running Cracked creative team of the era, which routinely included veteran artist John Severin alongside contributors such as Don Martin, Walter Brogan, Rurik Tyler, Gary Fields, Frank Borth, Don Orehek, and Pete Fitzgerald — the same stable confirmed for the surrounding 1991 issues.
Trivia · 7 facts
- The issue contains a full Darkman movie parody ('Dork, Man') featuring stand-in versions of Dr. Frankenstein and Igor alongside cameo appearances by Hulk, Spider-Man, Batman, and Lois Lane.
- A separate comic-book parody article spoofs Spider-Man, The Simpsons, and Splinter of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles simultaneously, reflecting the overlapping pop-culture dominance of all three properties in 1991.
- The Simpsons family (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie) appear in multiple distinct features: a 'Simpsons gimmicks on other TV shows' article, a Shut-Ups gag page, and a comic-book parody segment — alongside Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones in the same Shut-Ups piece.
- A Matlock TV-series parody populates its courtroom with cameos from Roger Rabbit, Marge and Homer Simpson, Jason Voorhees (credited as 'Jokeson'), Freddy Krueger, Judge Doom, Frankenstein's Monster, and other horror/pop-culture figures.
- An Arsenio Hall Show parody features caricatures of Bart Simpson, Gumby, and Frankenstein's Monster among the guests, while a separate celebrity-satire piece includes Spider-Man alongside real figures such as Madonna, Donald Trump, and Andrew Dice Clay.
- The interior art roster for the surrounding 1991 issues is confirmed to include John Severin, Don Martin, Walter Brogan, Rurik Tyler, Frank Borth, Don Orehek, Gary Fields, and Pete Fitzgerald — the same core team active throughout Cracked's Globe-era run.
- Cracked's mascot Sylvester P. Smythe appears in pinup form on both the inside back cover (as Arsenio Hall) and the back cover (as Darkman), a recurring Cracked production convention of the period.
Cast · 25 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
The Simpersons get Spider-Dude to help rescue Barf, who has been kidnapped by the Enigma.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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