In the early years MAD in Norway was very popular and the first series of the Norwegian MAD was launched in 1971. Williams Publishing was the name of the first publisher, which released only eight issues in the period 1971-1972. After nine years of absence Semic started to publish the second series again from 1981 to 1994. This series lasted 118 issues and was the most successful MAD edition in Norway. The magazine contained a mixture of translated material from the U.S. edition and self-produced material from Norwegian artists and writers.
The name of the first editor was Day Kolstad. He left the Norsk MAD in early 1986, and started the competing humor magazine ‘Phyton’ a few years later. Kolstad engaged several artists of the Norwegian MAD (including Arild Midthun and Tommy Sydsæter) and transferred them to the competitor magazine. The rising ‘war’ between the Norwegian MAD and Python peaked in 1988, when Python printed a fake MAD-cover on the back, hoping to steal readers from MAD. This resulted in a trial and Gevion (Python’s publisher) was ordered to pay 80 000 Norwegian Kroner in damages. In the late 1980s, Python finally won the battle. The sales of the Norwegian MAD began to decrease rapidly, while Python numbers were rising. In 1994, the Norwegian MAD was closed.
Another publisher named ‘Bladkompaniet’ acquired Norwegian MAD in 1995 He attempted to relaunch the magazine – but this lasted only six numbers in 1996. Egmont was the name of the next publisher who tried the next Norwegian version of MAD in 2001. It lasted only 6 issues. The last sign of MAD in Norway, a special album, showed up in the store shelves in 2008.
