National Lampoon Magazine — December 1976 (Selling Out Issue)

The December 1976 "Selling Out" issue of National Lampoon features one of the most brazenly self-aware covers in magazine history: "SELLING OUT" scrawled in enormous red graffiti letters directly over the National Lampoon masthead. Below it, in green: PLEASE PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. Then the products themselves, laid out like a real advertisement — Kool cigarettes, Seagram's 7, Brut cologne, a Pioneer stereo system. The cover IS the ad. The bottom banner promises: FIRST EVER FOLDOUT PINUP!

The Lampoon had mocked its own commercial existence before — the June 1976 Diamond Jubilee issue did it with a single cover line. This one goes all the way: the entire cover is the critique. The magazine selling out, advertising the fact that it's selling out, while selling out. It's a perfect loop.

A genuinely conceptually bold issue and a fascinating artifact of 1970s media self-awareness. Bagged and boarded, solid condition. Sold as-is.

• National Lampoon, December 1976
• "The Humor Magazine" — $1.00 cover price
• First Ever Foldout Pinup inside
• Bagged and boarded
• Vintage collectible magazine, sold as-is