| Status | defunct (1994) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1958 |
| Founder | Robert C. Sproul |
| Country of origin | United States of America |
| Headquarters location | Long Island |
| Key people | Sol Brodsky, John Severin, Terry Bisson |
| Publication types | Comic magazines |
| Fiction genres | Humor, Horror, Western, Adventure |
| Imprints | Humor-Vision Globe Communications |
Major Publications, also known as Major Magazines, was the publisher of the satirical magazine Cracked, the most durable imitator of Mad magazine. Founded by Robert C. Sproul in 1958, the company generally imitated other publishers' successes in various genres, such as Westerns, men's adventure, and the Warren Publications mid-1960s revival of horror comics.[1] Even as the company chased publishing trends, its long-running flagship title was Cracked, which the company published from 1958 to 1985.
The company also published a number of monster-themed magazines, imitating publications like Fangoria and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Editor Terry Bisson recalled:
The whole company was about lowball imitations. The publisher . . . wanted to put out some imitations of Western, romance and astrology mags, and I was hired (at about age 27) to put them together because of my romance mag experience. . . . The pseudomags did pretty well (this was a very low end market).[1]