Mad #425

Mad #425 (January 2003) wraps up the year in peak Mad fashion, with cover art by Roberto Parada presenting ten caricatured bobblehead figures of 2002's most talked-about names — Mike Tyson, R. Kelly, Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Kournikova, David Letterman, Martha Stewart, George W. Bush, Cardinal Law, Jayson Williams, and Alfred E. Neuman perched atop the masthead. The bold headline promises "20 Dumbest People, Events & Things of 2002," and the bobblehead conceit is a genuinely clever visual hook that lets the art do as much satirical work as the writing. With teasers for Lord of the Rings and "Analyze That" parodies also on the cover, this issue offers a satisfying year-in-review snapshot of early-2000s American culture filtered through Mad's irreverent lens.