On seven discs is every issue of Mad EVER published up until 1998. You can browse through the covers, look up a MAD Movie satire, or compare the older issues with the new ones. If you're a MAD fan, this is really fun and worth getting. Of course, it's not quite as fun as having the actual issue in your hand, but it's very close.

CONSUMER ALERT: now I will bring to your attention the false advertising on the box. On the back it reads, "The Most Comprehensive MAD Magazine Collection Ever!" Now, since the CDS DO contain every issue of MAD, that claim seems easy to believe. And they DO have every issue of MAD.

HOWEVER, notice it did NOT say "every article". There are some articles in the magazine that are missing in the CD, with a picture of wadded up paper in its place. Take issue #30, for instance. While I was browsing through the pages, I noticed that the "Saw Screams At Midnight" article was missing, and, needless to say, I was NOT very happy.

Broderbund says that some articles couldn't be reprinted because they couldn't get permission from a few authors. Well, then, here's my question for Broderbund: How can you call your CD-ROM set "The Most Comprehensive MAD Magazine Collection Ever!" when it is missing some articles?

Wouldn't a person who has all of the MAD magazines ever printed in his basement actually have a more comprehensive collection than a CD-ROM set that has several pages missing from several issues? That's not being truthful. That's false advertising and Broderbund knew it.

Also, the MADS stop at 1998. I realize they had to stop somewhere, but couldn't they have online updates? I'd like to see their spoof of Traffic, for instance, but I don't want to buy the magazine since MAD broke their almost 50-year-old rule of "NO ADS."

All in all, this is great CD-ROM set and every fan of MAD should get it. The "articles missing" thing is not a huge deal if you're not looking at the older ones, but still a con.

I'm happy I got it anyways.

Recommended: Yes