ABOUT THE MEXICAN MAD

    Mad Magazine in Mexico was published 3 different times, dividing the Mexican Mad into 3 "series". According to the notation in the magazines, all 3 series published "monthly". Series #1 began in 1978,  series #2 in 1985 and series #3, in 1993. Mad Magazine in Mexico featured many original covers as well as copies of American covers. Because of the numbering systems used, it is often difficult to tell these various series apart. If a publication year can not be found, other ID traits must be located. Shown below are ways to tell in what "series" a Mexican Mad belongs.

SERIES 1(LISA Series)

    Issues from series are most easily identified by the ID mark at the logo saying "MAD En Espanol" followed by "ANO # "X", No "X". 

Only first series Mexican Mads use the heading "MAD En Espanol". Mads from Argentina also sport these words, so in order to further ID them as MEXICAN Mads, look on the masthead page. You will see some or all of  the following...

FROM #1
Director, Sr. Hernando Cortez
Produccion, Ing. Fernando Lankenau, 
Formato, Sr. Gilberto Trovias A
Traduccion, Ing. F. Lankenau

Revista Mensual por LISA Editorial S.A. V. Carranza Sur 201 Tel 40-41-42 Monterrey Nuevo Leon Mexico
Distribuldor: Dittribuldor de impresos S.A. Tel 545-66-45 Mariano Escobedo No. 218 Mexico, D.F.$30

Hernando Cortez was the "editor in chief" for the entire run of series #1, while F. Lankenau was in charge of production. 

SERIES 2 (GRAFO Series)

    Series 2 Mexican Mads began in 1985. Both series 2 and 3 have the words "en Mexico". This makes further identification necessary to tell series 2 from series 3.

from series 2

from series 3

    What needs to be checked is again the masthead page. In series 2 Mexican Mads, the following will be found...

Dir Gen, Ing. Fernando Lankenau 
Colaboracion, Sergio Flores M.
Mad en Mexico por Grafo Print Editores, s.a.  ave. 4274, Colinas de San Jeronimo, Monterrey, N.L., Mexico. Distribuidora de Impresos, S.A. tel. 545-66-45 Mariano Escobedo No. 218 Mexico, D.F.

.Lankenau (from series 1) became the chief editor to start series 2. After issue 16, Sergio Flores Mendoza took over. 

SERIES 3 (ENIGMA Series)

Series 3 (1993) Mexican Mads again sport "En Mexico" under the Mad logo. Series 3 issues often have  brighter and more colorful covers. They are 8 3/8" by 10 5/8" as compared to series 1 & 2 issues that were 8 1/4" by 10 7/8".  To ID 3rd series Mexican Mads The masthead page once again contains the ID material needed to determine if an issue belongs to series #2. Look for the following...

Editor Responsable, Sixto Valencia B. 
Ediciones Enigma, S.A. de C.V., Av. Taxquena 2798, Mexico 04250
Distribucion exclusiva: Publicaciones Camara Nacional de la Industria Mexicana

Publicada por Publicaciones CITEM, S.A. de C.V., Av. Taxquena 1798, Mexico 04250, D.F. Ediciones Enigma

With issue #21, the editor in chief became Manuela Alvarez and beginning with #29 through the final issue (#50) it was Patricia Bueno

In #50, the following appeared as a full page notice.

Nos Vamos!
Ante la crisis y el agotamiento total, los Madniacos y el personal usual de idiotas se toman unas vacaciones. Estaremos fuera de circulacion durante una temporadita. Esperamos volver pronto. 
Su Madjestad

Translated to English this means 
"We will not be around anymore! Before we reach a point of total exhaustion, the Mad editors and the usual gang of idiots need to take vacations. We will be temporarily cease publication, but hope to return soon.
Su Madjestad (the Mad staff)"

SERIES 4 (MINA Series)

Of all the non U.S. Mad editions published over the years, Mad Magazines from Mexico (ALL editions) have had the most creative and original covers. The series 4, or Mina series, is no exception. Beginning in 2004, Revista Mad (Mad Magazine) is published by Mina Editores. The current edition of Mad is both colorful and creative. What really makes this edition so unique is that it is a bi-weekly publication, thus publishing twice as many issues. 

ID marks include the Mina logo or .

Each issue is 48 pages long. The magazine is sold in stores and through subscription. 

There are regular artists, most of them are writers as well. They include Genaro Altamira, the editor of this series until issue 26 or28. He is still collaborating, and is the author of many of our covers. 
Oscar Medina is one of our readers favorites artists. Sergio Flores is the artist who has collaborated with MAD since the first series in Mexico (Lisa) and still working on the current MINA series. 
Bachan was an important artist of the magazine, but he doesn't work with the Mexican Mad anymore. However, you can see some of his work in MAD Kids. 

Others regular contributors include Augusto Mora, Pepeto, Carlos A. Lara, Jespe y Erasmo, Ruy y Tona Ponce.

You may visit their web site and get subscription information at http://www.minaeditores.com/. Hopefully, thanks to all this hard work, the Mina series of the Mexican Mad will be around for a long time.

A special thanks to Omar Antonio Ponce Carrillo of the Mexico Mad for his generous contribution of Mexican Mads to the collection and to Marco A. Lara of MAD Mexico for the scans and information.

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