MAD About the 50's

The 1950s were the buttoned up, Gray Flannel decade. However, when things look upright on the surface, there's sure to be some wicked humor bubbling underneath. Founded in 1952 as a comic book, MAD magazine quickly evolved into the premier showcase for America's most unabashedly irreverent and enduringly influential comic talent.

Besides hilarious comic strips from the murky inkwells of Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Don Martin, and Al Jaffee, among others, MAD was the print-world stomping ground of the period's most revolutionary comic performers, such as Tom Lehrer. Also included are classic parodies like "Superduperman!", "Mickey Rodent!", and "Melvin of the Apes!", plus original satires like the brutally tunny "Scenes We'd Like to See" -- available at last to comic lovers and retro seekers who missed out the first time around as well as old-time MAD readers who want to relive the laughs.

Following in the bestselling tradition of MAD About the Sixties and MAD About the Seventies, this uproarious collection includes 96 full-color pages that reproduce rare early covers, classic ad parodies, and much more -- not to mention the real story of how Alfred E. Neuman was born. (Was his original name really Melvin Coznowski? Or was it Mel Haney?)