| Major Publications | |
| Founded: | 1958 |
| Status: | defunct (1994) |
| Founder: | Robert C. Sproul |
| Headquarters: | Long Island |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Keypeople: | Sol Brodsky, John Severin, Terry Bisson |
| Publications: | Comic magazines |
| Genre: | Humor, Horror, Western, Adventure |
| Imprints: | Humor-Vision Globe Communications |
Major Publications, also known as Major Magazines, was the publisher of the satirical magazine Cracked, the most durable imitator of Mad magazine. Founded by Robert C. Sproul in 1958, the company generally imitated other publishers' successes in various genres, such as Westerns, men's adventure, and the Warren Publications mid-1960s revival of horror comics. Even as the company chased publishing trends, its long-running flagship title was Cracked, which the company published from 1958 to 1985.
The company also published a number of monster-themed magazines, imitating publications like Fangoria and Famous Monsters of Filmland. Editor Terry Bisson recalled:
See main article: Cracked (magazine). Cracked's first editor was Sol Brodsky. Over the years, Bill Ward and John Severin were regular contributors to most of the company's publications. The production manager throughout the 1960s was Charles Foster.
In addition to the flagship title, Major put out a number of publications under the Cracked umbrella, including Cracked Collector's Edition, Giant Cracked, and Super Cracked. Many Cracked contributors worked on these titles.
The most notable of Major's black-and-white horror magazines was Web of Horror, edited by Bisson, which published three issues from 1969 to 1970. Bruce Jones made his professional debut in Web of Horror #3, writing and drawing the six-page story "Point of View." Wayne Howard contributed to issue #1. Syd Shores penciled "Blood Thirst!" in #1 and "Strangers!" in #3. Ralph Reese was a regular contributor to Web of Horror. Other contributors included Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, and Jeff Jones.
Bisson left after issue #3, leaving the editorial chores to Wrightson and Bruce Jones. As Wrightson recalls,
In 1985, founder Sproul sold the company's assets to Globe Communications, which moved the operations to Florida and continued to publish Cracked and some of its affiliated magazines under the Major Magazines name. Globe sold the assets to American Media in 1994.