Mad #30
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMad #30 (December 1956) is one of the most pivotal single issues in the history of American humor publishing: it marks the first time Norman Mingo's now-definitive painted portrait of Alfred E. Neuman appeared as a full cover, with the character identified by name and running as a write-in presidential candidate alongside a Democrat donkey and a Republican elephant. That image became Mad's permanent face for decades, cementing the magazine's identity in the public imagination. The issue also debuts the 'Old Comic-Strip Characters' Home' feature by Al Feldstein and Wally Wood — a loving elegy to dozens of retired newspaper comic-strip characters that stands as one of the most sweeping cross-property tributes the American comics medium had yet produced. Arriving just one issue into new editor Al Feldstein's tenure, #30 effectively announced the Feldstein era's tone and visual grammar, launching a creative run that would quadruple the magazine's circulation over the following two decades.
A hilarious roundup of college humor from the 1950s, "B. F. Goodnrich Autoless - Because You Don't Need a Car, Just Tires" collects gag cartoons from student publications like the Iowa State Green Gander and the Harvard Lampoon, showcasing the sharp, satirical wit of campus comedians. With contributions from a rotating cast of writers and artists—including Rice, Bill Davis, Parks, and others—this Mad issue delivers classic absurdity in the signature EC style. The cover, a collaborative effort by Norman Mingo, Harvey Kurtzman, and Bill Elder, perfectly captures the zany spirit of the era.
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Harvey Kurtzman, Mad's founding editor, departed EC after demanding a 51% ownership stake that publisher William Gaines refused; Feldstein stepped in as editor beginning with issue #29 (September 1956), and #30 was only his second issue at the helm. Feldstein commissioned illustrator Norman Mingo — a classically trained commercial artist new to Mad's pages — to paint the canonical Alfred E. Neuman portrait, replacing the rougher Harvey Kurtzman/Bill Elder border-art frame that had carried the face in previous issues. Kurtzman had himself introduced the pre-existing 'What, Me Worry?' public-domain gag face into Mad starting in 1954, but it was Mingo's oil-painted makeover — red hair, jug ears, and gap-toothed grin standardized for the first time — that locked in the image the world knows. The issue is 52 black-and-white pages at a cover price of 25 cents, published by EC Publications Inc., with the cover border attributed to Kurtzman and Elder for the last time.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full-cover appearance of Alfred E. Neuman, painted by Norman Mingo, with the character named on the cover and running as a write-in presidential candidate alongside caricatures of the Democratic donkey and Republican elephant.
- First issue to feature the modern, standardized Mad trademark version of Alfred E. Neuman; also the last issue to carry the Harvey Kurtzman/Bill Elder decorative border frame — a transitional artifact of the Kurtzman-to-Feldstein handoff.
- Debut issue for cover artist Norman Mingo and interior artist Bob Clarke, two contributors who would remain central to Mad's visual identity for years afterward.
- Contains 'MAD Establishes an...Old Comic-Strip Characters' Home' (script: Al Feldstein; art: Wally Wood) — a full-page pinup with numbered key depicting dozens of then-retired newspaper comic-strip characters drawn in their original styles, including Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse, Offisa Bull Pupp, Pogo Possum, The Yellow Kid, Little Nemo, The Spirit, Denny Colt, Popeye, Dick Tracy, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, Little Orphan Annie, Buster Brown, Barnaby, Smilin' Jack, Flyin' Jenny, Miss Fury, Don Winslow, Chief Wahoo, Charlie Chan, Mickey Dugan, Apple Mary, Ebony White, Mr. O'Malley, Casper, The Timid Soul, The Squirrel Cage Hitchhiker, Sappo, Ming the Merciless, Jack Martin, Marla Drake, and many others.
- Contains 'Elvis Pelvis' (script: Al Feldstein; art: Jack Davis) — one of the earliest extended comic-book satires of Elvis Presley, appearing the same year his cultural dominance exploded.
- Contains 'Walt Dizzy Presents Dizzyland' (script: Al Feldstein; art: Wally Wood) — a parody of the then-newly opened Disneyland theme park and its Walt Disney television branding.
- Contains 'What's Happened to the...Pulp Magazines?' (script: James Blish; art: Bill Elder) — written by science-fiction author James Blish, demonstrating Mad's early practice of commissioning prominent outside writers.
- First issue in the series to feature a Department title for marginal text, a structural format change that became a lasting Mad convention; published only as EC Comics' entire line — except Mad — had collapsed, making this issue part of the magazine's role as EC's sole surviving title.
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Gag cartoons from the following college publications: Iowa State Green Gander; Harvard Lampoon; Stanford Chaparral; Florida Smoke Signals; Cornell Widow; Minnesota Daily; Michigan Gargoyle; California Pelican; U.C.L.A. Scop
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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