Cracked #290
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCracked #290 belongs to the mid-1990s run of the magazine under Globe Communications — the period when the title was struggling to maintain relevance as its publication frequency began to drop and circulation slid. As one of the roughly 290-something entries in the longest-running Mad rival in American publishing history, it represents the twilight stretch of the Globe era before the 1999 sale to American Media, Inc. The issue carries cultural weight primarily as a surviving artifact of a humor magazine tradition that, founded in 1958, outlasted every other Mad imitator by decades. Its existence during a period of editorial contraction makes it a historical data point in Cracked's slow decline from monthly to bi-monthly publishing.
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By 1994, Cracked was being published under Globe Communications, which had acquired the title from Major Publications. Lou Silverstone — a veteran who had previously written for Mad — was serving as editor and writer for the magazine through most of the 1990s, frequently employing pseudonyms. The magazine's production during this era was lean by design: low overhead and bundled newsstand distribution kept it alive even as the direct-market comic shop ecosystem largely ignored it. Cracked #290 falls squarely in this Silverstone editorial window, likely featuring the magazine's standard mix of TV and movie parodies, recurring gag features (such as 'Shut-Ups' and 'The Cracked Lens'), and cover art in the house style.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Published in 1994 by Globe Communications Corp., the tabloid-publishing parent company that owned Cracked from the mid-1980s until its sale to American Media, Inc. in November 1999.
- Cracked #290 falls within the editorial tenure of Lou Silverstone — a former Mad contributor who served as Cracked's editor and primary writer for most of the 1990s, often writing under pseudonyms such as Vic Bianco, Tony Frank, or Linc Pershad.
- The issue is part of a run during which Cracked's publication frequency was being reduced from monthly to a bi-monthly schedule, reflecting declining circulation in the mid-1990s.
- John Severin, the magazine's house cartoonist for nearly four decades, was still contributing to the title around this period, though he later departed after being offered a substantial pay cut.
- Cracked was, by this point, the longest-surviving humor magazine launched in Mad's wake, having outlasted all other imitators since its founding in 1958.
- Standard features in 1990s-era Cracked issues included TV/movie parodies, 'Shut-Ups' (a two-panel recurring gag strip), 'The Cracked Lens' (captioned film stills), and appearances by mascot Sylvester P. Smythe.
- No first appearances, landmark story developments, or unique creative credits specific to issue #290 have been documented in any publicly accessible collector database, wiki, or editorial archive.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Cracked Collectors' Edition #104 (1995), Cracked Collectors' Edition #110 (1997), Cracked Collectors' Edition #111 (1997), Cracked Summer Special #7 (1997), Cracked Summer Special #8 (1998), Cracked Blockbuster #13 (1999), Super Cracked #16 (1999), Cracked Super #17 (2000), Cracked Collectors' Edition #125 (2000)
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