Mad #532
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #532 marks the magazine's first cover devoted to the Disney/Lucasfilm era of Star Wars — specifically the then-upcoming Episode VII, The Force Awakens — signaling that the franchise had reached the cultural saturation point Mad had always used as its trigger for lampoon. It continues a decades-long tradition of Mad Star Wars parody stretching back to issue #196 (1978), making it a document of how each new chapter of the saga was processed through American satirical culture. The issue also illustrates the dual-platform publishing model Mad operated under in its later years, releasing simultaneously on newsstands and on tablet in early 2015, reflecting the magazine's effort to stay relevant in a digital media landscape. As one of the final stretches of the run before the series reset at #550 and relocated to Los Angeles, it represents the twilight of the classic New York-era Mad.
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By 2015, Mad was operating under DC's publishing umbrella while retaining the EC Comics brand on its masthead — an arrangement that had been in place since Time Warner consolidated its holdings. Editor-in-Chief John Ficarra, who had guided the magazine since 1984, commissioned the Force Awakens parody well ahead of the film's December 2015 release, timed to capitalize on the first wave of teaser-trailer mania that had gripped pop culture in late 2014 and early 2015. Writer Mike Morse and artist Herman Mejia produced the Star Wars spread, following Mad's long-established practice of pairing a quick movie-clip parody with an Alfred E. Neuman cover caricature when a full multi-page treatment wasn't yet possible (the film hadn't been released).
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated April 2015; went on sale February 24, 2015 on newsstands and February 13, 2015 digitally via iPad.
- Cover features Alfred E. Neuman costumed as one of the redesigned First Order stormtroopers from Star Wars: The Force Awakens — Mad's first cover dedicated to the Disney-era Star Wars franchise.
- Interior Star Wars: The Force Awakens parody spread was written by Mike Morse and illustrated by Herman Mejia.
- The Force Awakens parody was structured as a two-page spread rather than the full multi-page treatment Mad typically reserved for released films, since The Force Awakens had not yet opened when the issue went to press.
- Additional parody targets in the issue included LEGO, the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls, and Netflix's House of Cards, per the Amazon product listing.
- The issue continued Mad's recurring staples: Spy vs. Spy, Sergio Aragonés's margin gags ('Drawn Out Dramas'), and the Al Jaffee Fold-In on the inside back cover.
- Published under DC's publishing infrastructure while carrying the historic EC Comics imprint — the arrangement that had governed Mad since the Time Warner consolidation.
- Mad #532 falls within the penultimate phase of the original run, which concluded with #550 before the series was rebooted with a new #1 in 2018 following a move of editorial offices from New York to Los Angeles.
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Reprinted in Mad #34 (2023)
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