May 10th, 2020:

	For no apparent reason, I started thinking about Cracked magazine 
this afternoon.  Specifically, about the regular John Severin feature 
"Sagebrush", starring a scruffy gold prospector and his mule.  I haven't 
seen a Sagebrush story, much less an issue of Cracked, since the late 
1980s, yet the character popped into my head largely uninvited.

That's not to say Sagebrush was unwelcome.  I did enjoy reading the strip 
in Cracked, and I remember being quite giddy when my parents brought home 
a Sagebrush paperback from a community club rummage sale when I was a kid 
(which I later discovered was quite rare!).  I mean, Mad Magazine 
paperbacks were a dime-a-dozen, but a CRACKED PAPERBACK?!  Now *that* was 
something unusual!

For those of you not in the know, Cracked magazine was similar to the 
aforementioned Mad magazine, often seen as a pale imitation or "rip-off" 
of Mad at worst, or an "also-ran" at best.  To my childhood eyes, though, 
they were largely equal, just two competing flavours of comedy cola.

Mad had the bigger audience (orders of magnitude bigger) and, looking 
back, generally better content and a more enduring appeal.  Cracked was 
simply... not Mad.  Honestly, as I write this, I'm at a loss to explain 
why I have such fond memories of Cracked.  But I do.

Maybe it's because Cracked gave us something different to talk about at 
school?  All my friends read Mad, so seeing the latest issue of Mad on a 
friend's desk or in his backpack was not unusual.  Seeing an issue of 
Cracked, though, *was* unusual.  It either meant Metro Drugs or the Shell 
station had sold out of Mad, or a well-meaning grandma bought it for you 
by mistake.  I mean - we all had collections of Mad magazines, but nobody, 
NOBODY, collected Cracked!

However, after making fun of the owner of said Cracked magazine, we'd all 
inevitably end up asking to read it once the owner was done with it, then 
begrudgingly admit the magazine was "alright".

Myself, I didn't buy Cracked very often.  When I did, it was usually 
because I wanted a comedy fix between issues of Mad.  You see, Mad only 
published ten (later eight) issues per year, while Cracked published 
twelve.  As a bonus/gimmick to entice potential readers, Cracked would 
occasionally include a premium, such as an iron-on/T-shirt transfer patch 
or even a pull-out section that included a mini board game!

The board games were never great, but to a couple of bored elementary 
school kids, they were a fun way to keep us occupied for a couple of hours 
on a spring break afternoon.  After a week, most of the pieces would be 
lost and the game quickly forgotten, but it had served its purpose.  It 
kept us briefly entertained.  It was there.

I mentioned earlier how I was at a loss to explain why I have such fond 
memories of Cracked magazine and, to be honest, an hour later I *still* 
don't know why.

Perhaps I liked it because it taught me about seeking alternatives to the 
"popular" things?  Perhaps because it gave me an appreciation for the 
underdog?  Perhaps because it was my first perceived opportunity to escape 
groupthink and the elementary school status quo?

Or perhaps because it was simply "just there"?

I just don't know.

Anyway, that's the end of my nostalgic ramblings for now.  I gotta start 
dinner.