Mad #260
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #260 (January 1986) sits at a quietly pivotal moment in the magazine's history: it was produced in the first full year of the Nick Meglin–John Ficarra co-editorship, which succeeded the long Al Feldstein era and steered the magazine's satirical voice for the next two decades. The issue also captures one of the final creative appearances of founding Mad artists Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder working together as a team — a rare reunion of the magazine's original DNA at a time when the publication was entering a new editorial chapter. Its parody of Back to the Future, rendered by Mort Drucker, exemplifies the magazine's enduring role as the culture's unofficial comedy-of-record for Hollywood blockbusters, a tradition that helped shape generations of satirists and humorists.
In "Bleak for the Future," Dave Berg delivers his signature satirical take on modern life with a sharp, wry glance at the little frustrations that pile up in everyday routines—from dinner to decisions, from the phone to parental approval. Illustrated with Berg’s precise, deadpan style and inked by the same hand, the story unfolds as a series of quietly devastating observations on the absurdities of routine. Jack Davis’s cover, a classic of EC’s later years, captures the mood with a perfectly timed visual punch.
In "The Lighter Side of..." from Mad #260, a sharp, satirical glance at everyday absurdities unfolds through a series of tightly drawn vignettes—each riffing on the mundane with a wry twist, from the futility of phone calls to the drama of mail delivery and the quiet panic of parental approval. With no writer or artist credited beyond typeset letters, the humor lands with the crisp, deadpan precision that defined Mad’s classic parody style.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Mad #260 was published by E.C. Publications under the newly installed co-editorial team of Nick Meglin and John Ficarra, who had taken the reins in 1984 after Al Feldstein's retirement, with Lenny 'The Beard' Brenner elevated to art director. The issue's Kurtzman-and-Elder contribution reflects a brief mid-1980s collaboration in which the two founding figures returned to the magazine they had helped create in 1952. The cover was provided by Jack Davis, an EC and Mad original whose energetic caricature style remained synonymous with the magazine across several decades.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published January 1986 by E.C. Publications; cover date January 1986 per the Grand Comics Database.
- Cover art by Jack Davis — one of Mad's original EC-era artists and a long-tenured cover contributor.
- Contains a Mort Drucker–illustrated parody of the 1985 film *Back to the Future*, one of the year's biggest pop-culture events.
- Also includes a Mort Drucker–illustrated parody of the 1985 film *Cocoon*.
- Features a rare latter-day collaboration strip by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder — the magazine's founding creative duo — parodying Glenn Frey's 'Smuggler's Blues.'
- Includes a retro spoof of classic TV sitcom *The Honeymooners*.
- Recurring features present include Don Martin strips, Dave Berg's 'The Lighter Side of…,' Sergio Aragonés' Marginals, and an Al Jaffee Fold-In.
- First full year of the Nick Meglin–John Ficarra co-editorship, which succeeded Al Feldstein's decades-long editorial tenure.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #74 (1991), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #75 (1991), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #80 (1992), Mad Special [Mad Super Special] #105 (1995), Mad for Decades #[nn] (2007), Mad's Greatest Artists: Don Martin #[nn] (2014), Mad #19 (2021)
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