Mad #272

Mad Magazine gets into the summer of 1987 spirit by reimagining TV's fuzzy alien ALF as a playing card king — his shaggy, snout-nosed face dominating the center of an ornate court-card design, with a jester-costumed Alfred E. Neuman grinning from the corner and a tiny upside-down ALF reflected at the bottom in true playing-card fashion. Richard Williams's cover art pulls off the visual gag with real craft, blending the familiar geometry of a deck of cards with the unmistakable mug of pop culture's favorite Alien Life Form. Inside, Dick DeBartolo and Mort Drucker serve up their "ARFul" take on the hit NBC sitcom — exactly the kind of sharp satire Mad does best.