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The end of the World! Tabloid to disappear!

Weekly World News, creator of Bat Boy, will vanish from supermarkets after next month.

MIAMI - Americans' waits in supermarket checkouts will forever be changed.

Weekly World News, the tabloid that for 28 years has chronicled sightings of Elvis, extraterrestrial activity and the exploits of Bat Boy, is no more.

Its publisher said Tuesday it would put out its last issue next month, maintaining only a Web presence.

What does it mean for a black-and-white staple that has delivered news of such historical proportions as Bigfoot's capture of a lumberjack he kept as his love slave and the merman found in the South Pacific? Stay tuned.

The tabloid's publisher, American Media Inc., issued a brief statement that announced the Aug. 27 issue would be Weekly World News' last.

It called the closure necessary "due to the challenges in the retail and wholesale magazine marketplace that have impacted the newsstand."

For all the headlines WWN has penned it has also made headlines of its own. In 2001's anthrax scare, AMI's office in Boca Raton was targeted and a photo editor was killed.

Since, it has tended to lighter fare, including recent headlines "Mother Nature Endorses Gore for President" and "Why Moses Wandered in the Desert for 40 Years: He Lost the Map!"

AMI, which is based in Boca Raton and New York, did not immediately respond to questions seeking specifics on layoffs, circulation and business woes or plans for a final issue. The company only said WWN was the smallest of its publications, which include Star, National Enquirer and Men's Fitness.

[Last modified July 24, 2007, 23:35:56]