History Magazine / Cracked

* Catchphrase: The Talking [[Film/TheBlob Blob]]: '''So Long, Suckers!''' (prior to his consuming his victim)

* Catchphrase: The Talking [[Film/TheBlob Blob]]:'''So Long, Suckers!''' (prior to his consuming his victim)

* ArtEvolution: Mike Ricigliano, and how. His art for the early "Shut-Ups!" (later drawn by Don Orehek) was nothing like the sketchy, loose style he adopted for the "Spies & Sabs" (basically their version of SergioAragones' "Marginal Thinking" sidebar doodles in ''Mad'') and any other work.

[[caption-width-right:350:A typical cover from 1975, featuring mascot Sylvester P. Smythe and drawn by ''Cracked'' mainstay John Severin.]]

** They tried a ''Teen People'' magazine parody called ''Toon People'', which was a very ShallowParody of the mag with toon characters attached, from WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse to MikeLuAndOg.

** They tried a ''Teen People'' magazine parody called ''Toon People'', which was a very ShallowParody of the mag with toon characters attached, from MickeyMouse to MikeLuAndOg.

* TheyKilledKenny: One recurring sequence late in the mag's run involved a cat who kept getting killed in a most contrived fashion (lawn dart to the head while chasing a frog?).

* NominalParody:

* PenName: John Severin (who often drew nearly half the magazine) was fond of switching out his signature for something silly, such as "O. O. Severin", "Seneriv", or "[[SdrawkcabAlias Nireves]]".
* ReTool: For the last few issues, it was remade as a "lad mag" akin to ''{{Maxim}}'' or ''{{FHM}}'' (i.e., suggestive photographs of females, stories about cars, etc.). Didn't work.

*** The mag also had an occasional habit of parodying things that were already parodies. Tell me, just how ''do'' you do a wacky parody of HotShots, which is a wacky parody of TopGun?

** They did a parody of {{Survivor}} a few months after the first season ended (back when the show was massively popular) using the Cracked roster of characters. [[spoiler: Simpy Dumpkins, The World's Most Hated Man was the first to go. Naked Guy (Richard Hatch) ended up winning.]]

* PenName: John Severin (who often drew nearly half the magazine) was fond of switching out his signature for something silly, such as "O. O. Severin", "Seneriv", or "[[SdrawkcabName Nireves]]".

* TakeThat: Countless attacks at ''Mad'' over time, including a section where they pointed out that the two mags had fairly similar cover gags (a takeoff of the cover to ''HarryPotter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' with the respective mascot of each mag riding on Harry's broom). ''Mad'', being the high-class mag that it is, [[UnknownRival never once counterattacked]].

* ParodyFailure:

* FollowTheLeader: By far, ''Cracked'' was the most prominent ''Mad'' clone: a parody mag with an intentionally ugly {{Expy}} of Alfred E. Neuman in Sylvester P. Smythe.

** They tried a ''Teen People'' magazine parody called ''Toon People'', which was a very ShallowParody of the mag with toon characters attached, from MickeyMouse to MikeLuAndOg. Sadly, the only intentionally funny bit was [[KingOfTheHill Bobby Hill]] modeling "[[BrandX Tummy Hillfigure]]" jeans.
** Given the uprise of {{anime}} in the earlier half of the 2000s, they tried a story in which Western cartoon characters "attacked" popular anime characters. While a good idea on paper, it was written (and drawn) like a horrible FanFic.

** They did a parody of {{Survivor}} a few months after the first season ended(back when the show was massively popular) using the Cracked roster of characters. [[spoiler: Simpy Dumpkins, The World's Most Hated Man was the first to go. Naked Guy(ala Richard Hatch) ended up winning.]]

* ArtEvolution: Mike Ricigliano, and how. His art for the early "Shut-Ups!" (later drawn by Don Orehek) was nothing like the sketchy, loose style he adopted for the "Spies & Sabs" (basically their version of SergioAragonés' "Marginal Thinking" sidebar doodles in ''Mad'') and any other work.

* EvilClown: Obnoxio the Clown.
-->'''Obnoxio:''' Have ya strained yer brain yet?

* {{Padding}}: The 2000s issues were rife with this: repeats from classic issues, a ''second'' ''{{Godzilla}}'' (1998) parody more than two years after the fact, several song parodies...

* LastOfHisKind: Of all the ''Mad'' knockoffs, it was the sole survivor for the last two decades of its print run[[hottip:*:alongside ''Mad'' itself, of course]].
* LongRunners: By far the longest-lived of the ''Mad'' ripoffs, and had a respectable run in print in general.

For tropes related to the website, see WebOriginal/{{Cracked}}.

* ExecutiveMeddling: What brought the mag down. Tabloid owner [[MeaningfulName Dick]] Kulpa bought the mag, and as a cost-cutting measure, turned most artists' and writers' pays to flat-rate instead of by page. As a result, many veteran writers/artists left, such as Walter Brogan and John Severin. Kulpa was literally running the mag from his kitchen table, plastering it with tabloid-like covers, constantly delaying releases, and overall ruining the mag through his lack of experience.

For tropes related to the website, see {{Cracked}}.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: If only the magazine was still in print today, and retained its ''Mad'' knock-off style, there would've be many things they could have parodied pertaining to today's popular culture...