Mad #28

MAD No. 28 from July 1956 greets you with one of the magazine's most delightfully absurd cover images: a solitary coiled spring floating serenely against a pale blue sky, framed by an ornate illustrated border packed with tiny satirical vignettes. The "Spring Issue" banner — complete with a tongue-in-cheek Income Tax Guide promising tips on "deductions, cheating, etc." — perfectly captures MAD's gleeful knack for turning the mundane into a punchline. Cover art by Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, and Bill Elder, this 25-cent package also features Al Jaffee writing and Jack Davis on art for interior content.