Others included Marvel Comics regulars Steve Ditko and Gene Colan. Jack Kirby contributed once in 1960. In its later days, "Cracked" found it difficult to attract and retain the level of talent that the better-paying, better-selling "Mad" could. Richmond, who drew four articles for "Cracked", reported on his webpage that he was paid just $100 for a finished page, a small fraction of what he earned for his first "Mad" assignment. Richmond also wrote about the bad feeling caused by his short tenure at "Cracked": "[Editor Dick Kulpa] was very upset about my leaving Cracked for "Mad", but let’s be real ... not doing so would have been the same as a minor league Triple-A shortstop refusing a call up to the majors. That was no decision at all." Mike Snider had been submitting to both publications, and made the move to "Mad" after it accepted an article that had already been okayed by "Cracked"; Snider was obliged to rescind his submission to the lower-paying magazine. One publisher who looked into buying the "Cracked" operation felt that "Mad" was "in a class by itself" and that ""Cracked" couldn't top "Mad's" lineup". A typical issue of "Cracked" included two TV or movie parodies illustrated by Severin. The magazine also published "interview" articles featuring the recurring character Nanny Dickering (Nancy Dickerson was then an investigative newscaster). One of the magazine's longest-running features was "Shut-Ups," which were two-panel gags in which a character would make an observation or excuse in the first panel, and then be told to "SHUT UP" in the second, as the true situation was visually revealed. "Hudd & Dini" by Vic Martin, a gag strip about two convicts' failed schemes to escape prison, also ran frequently, as did John Severin's Western strip "Sagebrush." Other recurring features included "Ye Hang-Ups", "The Talking Blob", "Spies vs. Sabs" (originally "Saboteurs & Investigators") and, in the 1980s, "the Uggly Family" by Daniel Clowes. Ace Books published four "Cracked" collections, "The Cracked Reader" (K-111 NA, 1960), "More Cracked", "Completely Cracked" and "Cracked Again" (M-146, 1965).