Just a cursory glance at the subjects makes it seem there aren't many Mad Magazine collectors in here. Either that or I'm looking in the wrong forum. Do the Mad fanatics have a different site or section where they congregate?

I'm a longtime Mad collector going back to my humble 7-year-old self. A few years ago I fetched all my mags out of my dad's garage and decided to "complete the run before I sell it all, because then it will be worth more!" Since then I've learned that a Mad collection is hardly a ticket to mega-wealth, although trying to finish it can be a ticket to the poorhouse. (I've run into other sellers online who had the same delusion I did.)

Still, collecting Mads offers quite an array of challenges and areas to choose from:

-- The first 23 comics
-- Magazine issues #24 through about #100
-- The early More Trash, Worst From, and Follies special issues (complete with bonus inserts)
-- The paperback books (especially first-printing Signets)
-- The early merchandise: Cufflinks, Alfred Bust, Straitjacket, other
-- The myriad foreign issues, esp. the ones from the 1960s
-- The hundreds of specials from the 1990s
-- The yearly calendars
-- The vinyl records
-- "The Ridiculously Expensive Mad" book with inserts, etc.
-- Branching out to satire copycat comics/mags, like Cracked, Nuts, Crazy, Eh!, Get Lost
-- Following Harvey Kurtzman's post-Mad career with Trump, Humbug, Help!, Annie Fanny
-- Original artwork
-- Printed materials from before Mad existed that show an Alfred E. Neuman likeness
-- Board games, card game, Spy vs. Spy game
-- Ecch-cetera...

If other Mad freaks are out there, maybe this would be a good place to share collecting stories, post some photos, and other fershlugginer potrzebie idiocy.