Mad #27
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #27 (April 1956) is the penultimate issue produced under founding editor Harvey Kurtzman — one of only four issues published in 1956 before Kurtzman's departure ended a defining era in American satirical publishing. Most critically, the gap-toothed, worry-free boy who would become the magazine's immortal mascot makes a landmark appearance here: his face fills the inside back cover for the first time in the magazine format, accompanied by the phrase 'What—me worry?' — the slogan that would define Mad's entire ethos. The issue thus sits at a hinge point between the Kurtzman-built template of fierce pop-culture parody and the Al Feldstein era that would carry it to mass-market dominance, making it a living document of the most consequential editorial transition in humor-magazine history.
"Cartoon Digest" in Mad #27 (1956) delivers a sharp, satirical take on a night at the vaudeville show, skewering a ventriloquist, a foreign act, and a stand-up comic with the signature wit of Harvey Kurtzman and the wild, expressive art of Will Elder. The issue closes with a mock judicial ruling from Judge Alfred E. Neuman, all rendered in the chaotic, inventive style defined by Jack Davis, Harvey Kurtzman, and Bill Elder on the cover.
In this classic Mad satire, a night on the Ed Suvillan Show unfolds with its usual absurd lineup—complete with a ventriloquist, a baffling foreign act, and a stand-up comic whose jokes land with zero grace. The whole spectacle ends with a deadpan mock judgment from Judge Alfred E. Neuman, delivered in the magazine’s signature deadpan style.
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Published in April 1956 by E.C. Publications, Inc. under publisher William M. Gaines, #27 arrived in a period of profound institutional instability: the Comics Code Authority's assault on EC's horror and crime lines had forced the cancellation of every EC title except Mad by the end of 1955, leaving the magazine as Gaines's sole commercial lifeline. Kurtzman was simultaneously frustrated by tight page rates and budgetary constraints while circulation was reaching half a million copies — tensions that would erupt just one issue later when he demanded 51% ownership and Gaines refused, triggering Kurtzman's exit with most of the core creative staff to found Trump magazine under Hugh Hefner. The image of the future mascot on the back cover was sourced from a postcard Kurtzman had tracked down himself, and the cover's distinctive border frame — contributed by Will Elder — differed from the design used in the three preceding magazine-format issues, signaling a restless creative energy right to the end of the Kurtzman run.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated April 1956; published by E.C. Publications, Inc. under editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William M. Gaines.
- The gap-toothed boy who would become Alfred E. Neuman occupies the full inside back cover for the first time in the magazine run, paired with the catchphrase 'What—me worry?' — an image Kurtzman sourced from an old postcard.
- The boy is not yet named in this issue; Al Feldstein would formally christen him Alfred E. Neuman two issues later, in #29.
- Cover illustration by Jack Davis; border frame art by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder — a different frame design from those used in issues #24–#26.
- Notable interior content includes a parody of The Ed Sullivan Show by Bill Elder (ending with a mock court order issued by 'Judge Alfred E. Neuman'), 'Uninterrupted Melody' scripted by comedian Stan Freberg with art by Wally Wood, and 'A Lad And A Lion' scripted by Al Jaffee with art by Jack Davis.
- The issue also features a Marlboro cigarette ad parody ('Marlbrando Tattoo Needles') on the inside front cover and a United States Brewers Foundation ad parody on the back cover.
- One of only four issues of Mad published in all of 1956, reflecting the erratic schedule of Kurtzman's final period at the helm.
- Cover border art was reprinted in The Worst from Mad #3 (1960, frame only) and #4 (1961), and full cover art appeared in the 1997 Little, Brown anthology Mad about the Fifties.
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↩ Reprints Bric a Brac #[nn] (1893)
Reprinted in More Trash from Mad #1 (1958), The Worst from MAD #1 (1958), Mad for Keeps #[nn] (1958), Mad #41 (1958), The Bedside Mad #S1647 (1959), The Worst from MAD #2 (1959), Son of Mad #S1701 (1959), More Trash from Mad #2 (1959), The Worst from MAD #3 (1960), The Worst from MAD #4 (1961), The Brothers Mad #5 (U2105) (1963), The Bedside Mad #D2316 (1964), The Bedside Mad #P3520 (1968), Like, Mad #T4904 (1970), The Brothers Mad #5 (24331) (1975), The Brothers Mad #[5] (1976), Son of Mad #7 (88-760) (1979), The Bedside Mad #6 (88-893) (1979), Mad about the Fifties #[nn] (1997), The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book #[nn] (1997), The Son of Mad #[nn] (2003), Mad for Decades #[nn] (2007)
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