Al Jaffee's Mad Inventions #6 (86-116)

Al Jaffee's wit is on full display in this 1978 Warner Books collection, subtitled "…And Other Patently Absurd Contrivances." The cover, drawn and inked by Jaffee himself, says it all: a mustachioed fellow lounges contentedly on a chaise while a button-studded contraption operates a multi-armed robotic painter, which is dutifully producing a portrait of Alfred E. Neuman on an easel — all so the inventor doesn't have to lift more than a finger. It's a perfectly self-aware showcase for the kind of gloriously over-engineered nonsense that made Jaffee one of MAD's most beloved contributors.