Mad #214

Mad Magazine's April 1980 issue (No. 214) leads with one of the most cheerfully self-defeating cover gags the magazine ever pulled — Alfred E. Neuman's gap-toothed grin floating beside a massive "Don't Buy This Issue! Buy The One Underneath!" rendered in towering black type, with a small "FOR SALE!" sticker in the corner that undercuts the whole reverse-psychology bit perfectly. Inside, the Usual Gang of Idiots promises parodies of The Amityville Horror, The Concorde — Airport '79, and The White Shadow, plus contributions from Dave Berg and Don Martin. Writer Dick DeBartolo and artist Mort Drucker team up for "The Calamityville Horror," making this a fine snapshot of Mad at its irreverent early-'80s best.