Mad #20

MAD #20 from EC Comics pulls off one of the cheekiest cover gags in the magazine's run — the entire front is designed to look like a black-and-white marble composition notebook, complete with a label filled in to read "Mad Number 20, Feb. 10¢" and the subject line "Humor in a Jugular Vein." The corner banner gleefully announces this as a "Special Issue Designed to Sneak Into Class," making the disguise part of the joke. It's a wonderfully deadpan piece of 1955 satire that promises sharp, subversive fun inside.