MAD Cover to Cover: 48 Years, 6 Months, & 3 Days of MAD Magazine Covers

by Frank Jacobs

The covers are presented full-page, on glossy stock, with commentary by Frank Jacobs (author of some 400 articles for the magazine, as well as numerous books). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Humor, Art, Graphic Novels, Comics

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

my childhood:

1 part Mad Magazine
1 part Pee-Wee's Playhouse
1 part Rolling Stones

[Chase Parsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The format is simple: every MAD magazine cover from issue #1-400 is shown, and many are explained. It is fascinating throughout. Furthermore, studying MAD covers over 40+ years is an enlightening trip through popular culture and history. Definitely worth a read.

[Xavier Patiño · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun trip down memory lane.

A great art book filled with the cover art of Mad magazine from the first edition all the way to December 2000. Many of the covers had me laughing!

A worthy pickup for any Mad fan.

[Daniel A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the competitive world of newsstand periodicals, the cover of a magazine is often the first thing that grabs the reader and encourages them to buy the magazine; consequently, most successful magazines have consistently "catchy" covers. During its heyday, MAD magazine sold millions of copies of each issue, so clearly someone was doing something right in the graphic design department. Along these lines, MAD: Cover to Cover: 48 Years, 6 Months & 3 Days of MAD Magazine, edited by long, longtime MAD staff writer Frank Jacobs, fulfills an interesting niche of going behind the scenes of MAD's cover artwork from its inception through the early 2000s.

I've been reading MAD magazine for more than thirty years—three-quarters of my life now—and still have every issue dating back to April 1980 (plus many more going back into the early to mid-1960s), so a book like this is a nice addition to my collection; I found it fascinating not only to delve into the origins of many of my favorite covers (such as the infamous "Number One Ecch Magazine" issue, #166, April 1974 or the cover introducing UPC barcodes, #198, April 1978 [featured prominently in the Smithsonian at one time, no less!]), but to study the patterns of MAD's covers and the few instances they deviated from either the traditional logo or didn't show Alfred E. Neuman on the cover. (In the case of the former, for a while in the late 1970s, MAD regularly listed several of its features above the masthead, during its earlier years there were certain illustrations within the logo by founder Harvey Kurtzman himself, and MAD regularly played with—and mocked—the aforementioned UPC code during the early years of that "innovation". In the case of the latter, issue #166 was a notable example—and editor-in-chief Bill Gaines found that retailers refused to even carry it; the Pac-Man cover, issue #233, September 1982 was rather more successful in sales.)

What makes MAD: Cover to Cover such a fun and interesting book is also the supportive material, whether in the form of preliminary sketches, biographical data about the various cover artists and other creators, or rejected cover ideas; as such, MAD: Cover to Cover is a valuable document in terms of commercial design, and not just in the world of humor. In general, MAD: Cover to Cover was both fun and informative, even if not absolutely essential, and I don't know that any other source could substitute in quite the same way.

[Miles H · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bart Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fun book depicting nearly 50 years of Mad covers. Many of the covers have accompanying text describing the inspiration for the cover, as well as other interesting details.
I don't think I ever knew Boris Vallejo had a cover (albeit a back cover). Also, an early cover by Basil Wolverton.