Is this the Death or Rebirth of Cracked?

[MadFan]

My freind subscribes to Cracked and got a letter in the mail a few
weeks ago saying that the magazine was sold to a new bunch of owners
and that they were going to bring it back as a MONTHLY by the fall of
2005.

Does anyone have any info on this?

Me and my freind assumed that the mag was dead since it rarely came
out. The last I used to read Cracked was in the late 1990's, but then
whoever took it over really killed it.

It would be cool to see it come back.

[DaBergman]

Dude- Cracked died a while ago...

This kook named Dick Kulpa who used to write for the alien tabloid rag
"Weekly Workd News" bought it and then proceeded to turn Cracked into
the Titanic.

I have not seen it on newsstands for years.

Kulpa is a stone-cold CRACKED killa!

[Mike and Carole]

Post by DaBergman
Dude- Cracked died a while ago...
This kook named Dick Kulpa who used to write for the alien tabloid rag
"Weekly Workd News" bought it and then proceeded to turn Cracked into
the Titanic.
I have not seen it on newsstands for years.
Kulpa is a stone-cold CRACKED killa!

Over here at Shanda Fantasy Arts, we looked into producing CRACKED magazine
briefly, and talked to Kulpa, who seemed ...eh....very sure of himself and
needed no help or talent from our comic book company.

I saw it once at a Wal-Mart after that, but don't know anymore.

Mike

[DaBergman]

Dude- Was he sure of himself or dillusional?

Because the kook sold it. He admits that after 4 years, a comics mag
was a tough business so he sold it to some suckers. I am posting the
article in a separate posting that references the STONE-COLD CRACKED
KILLAH!!

[Mike and Carole]

Post by DaBergman
Dude- Was he sure of himself or dillusional?

My phrase "sure of himself" was a kind word.

Mike

Post by DaBergman
Because the kook sold it. He admits that after 4 years, a comics mag
was a tough business so he sold it to some suckers. I am posting the
article in a separate posting that references the STONE-COLD CRACKED
KILLAH!!

[D. D. Degg]

My understanding is they had a tough go of it after
the World Weekly News building had an anthrax attack.
Kulpa,either sooner or later, took over as publisher.
Giving it a shot he managed four issues last year (2004).
This February he sold it to an Arabian who is trying
to start up a new international publishing/media empire.

Never read the Kulpa version.


D.D.Degg

[StevenR]

As usual, DDDegg is correct. Kulpa was an employee of the World Weekly
News and bought Cracked from them - and was operating it out of the WWN
building. when the WWN building was closed for almost a year - due to
anthrax - the stats and material for Cracked stayed in the building.
Once you're dead for almost a year, its hard to keep moving......
but yes several issues did come out in 2004
steven rowe

[Jeremy Henderson]

Post by StevenR
As usual, DDDegg is correct. Kulpa was an employee of the World Weekly
News and bought Cracked from them - and was operating it out of the WWN
building. when the WWN building was closed for almost a year - due to
anthrax - the stats and material for Cracked stayed in the building.
Once you're dead for almost a year, its hard to keep moving......
but yes several issues did come out in 2004
steven rowe

It's Weekly World News, btw. And Cracked hadn't had an issue come out
for about 4 months before the anthrax attacks hit, so it seems the
magazine was in trouble even before that.
__________________________________
Life's a lot like a freak show,
Nobody laughs when they leave.
-The Residents, "Freak Show"

[DaBergman]

Interesting. Thanks for the history. As I recall from the news, the
building was not just for WWN. The anthrax letter was sent to the
company that owns/ operates the Enquirer, Globe and WWN.

My question is this- if the building was hit by anthrax, how come every
OTHER publication based there was able to continue publishing EXCEPT
for Cracked? They must have been having problems before that in terms
of lack of funding or something.

I think we still need to dub Kulpa the "Stone-Cold CRACKED Killah"!!!

[Jeremy Henderson]

Post by DaBergman
Interesting. Thanks for the history. As I recall from the news, the
building was not just for WWN. The anthrax letter was sent to the
company that owns/ operates the Enquirer, Globe and WWN.
My question is this- if the building was hit by anthrax, how come every
OTHER publication based there was able to continue publishing EXCEPT
for Cracked? They must have been having problems before that in terms
of lack of funding or something.

It's also possible that the other publications had backup files and
materials in other offices. Cracked, being a relatively small
operation, probably wouldn't have had any such contingencies.
__________________________________
Life's a lot like a freak show,
Nobody laughs when they leave.
-The Residents, "Freak Show"

[Rob Wynne]

Post by DaBergman
I think we still need to dub Kulpa the "Stone-Cold CRACKED Killah"!!!

You keep saying that. Is it supposed to be funny?

-R

[DaBergman]

Well, it's funnier and better written than the stuff on your site.

But keep trying!

[c***@cidermail.com]

Post by DaBergman
Well, it's funnier and better written than the stuff on your site.
But keep trying!

Great

***@cidermail.com

[DaBergman]

BTW, I tried to post this article regarding Dick Kulpa- aka SCCK (the
Stone-Cold Cracked Killah)- earlier today, but it didn't appear.
Here's the info on the sale of Cracked and the financial problems. It
all makes sense now!

Also, I guarantee that SCCK is downplaying how low he took circulation.
He's downplaying the mag's peak (bet it was more than 50,000 before
SCCK got his kooky hands on it), and I guarantee that the Stone-Cold
CRACKED Killah took it to such a level that the mag is probably
offcially dead- especially for this A-rab dude.

Kulpa (aka SCCK) is like a trained magazine assassin!!
And he now wants to move on and kill a Maxim-like publication!!

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2005/02/12/a17b_cracked_0212.html

Boynton owner sells 'Cracked' magazine

By Stephen Pounds
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 12, 2005


Cracked magazine owner Dick Kulpa of Boynton Beach has sold the
publication and its stable of wisecracking characters to an Arab
publishing firm.

Kulpa sold the magazine through an attorney representing the buyer, he
said Friday. The Gulf Daily News in Bahrain identified the buyer as
Teshkeel Media Group KSC in Kuwait City. The price of the sale wasn't
disclosed.

Cracked was founded in 1958 as an illustrated, satirical magazine
similar to Mad. Like Mad, it formed a national following based on its
sassy and wacky comic characters.

Kulpa bought it four years ago for less than $5 million from Boca
Raton-based American Media Inc., where he worked as a senior editor. He
published Cracked bimonthly with a cover price of $2.95 an issue.

The magazine's circulation dropped to 30,000 from 50,000, and Kulpa
struggled to finance its publication. He also had problems distributing
the magazine.

"We'd get a run going. Maybe we'd get three or four issues out, and
then the funds would run out," he said. "It's like taking off in an
airplane and having too heavy a load and having to set down."

The new owner, Teshkeel, was founded last year. The publishing company
plans to develop original children's content, with a focus on the Arab
world. It will move Cracked from Boynton Beach to New York.

"It's now in the hands of people capable of publishing and marketing
Cracked," Kulpa said.

Kulpa, 52, now wants to start a magazine such as Maxim aimed at young
males.

"After four years of marketing this and 15 years working in the
national mainstream arena, my resources are better off publishing a
mainstream magazine that would go hand in hand with the Internet,"
Kulpa said. "Comic books are a totally different animal."

[MadFan]

Thanks for posting this.

[Ted Kerin]

Post by D. D. Degg
My understanding is they had a tough go of it after
the World Weekly News building had an anthrax attack.

And yet, thank God, the WWN continues in its good work in solid
investigative journalism.

As a longtime WWN subscriber, I don't recall any significant interruption of
service after the anthrax scare -- although I do recall, for a few week
there, making my wife read it before I would touch it.

[Albert Giesbrecht]

Post by MadFan
It would be cool to see it come back.
O Mi Gosh, Cracked(Sigh)! I used to read it in the 70's I had a mad crush
on Nanny Dickerson(You had to be there) I loved her stilettos! I threw all
of mine out, should have kept them.

[Albert Giesbrecht]

I had a mad crush on Nanny Dickerson(You had to be there) I loved her
stilettos! >

Sorry that should be Nanny Dickering!

Visaman

[Michael Alan Chary]

Post by MadFan
My freind subscribes to Cracked and got a letter in the mail a few
weeks ago saying that the magazine was sold to a new bunch of owners
and that they were going to bring it back as a MONTHLY by the fall of
2005.
Does anyone have any info on this?

I talked to the new owner (as of then) last summer at Wizard World. Same
guy or not, I don't know. The website is still up.