Mad #198

Mad #198 (April 1978) turns its cover into one giant UPC barcode, with Alfred E. Neuman grinning in the corner while the headline gleefully declares the magazine "hopes this issue jams every computer in the country" — a perfectly timed jab at the then-new barcode mandate hitting newsstands everywhere. The red banner at the bottom drives the joke home, mourning that retailers have forced Mad "to deface our covers with this yecchy UPC symbol from now on." It's a wonderfully self-aware piece of visual comedy that transforms an annoyance into the entire cover concept.