Mad #527

MAD's Special "Head of the Class" issue arrives just in time for graduation season, and Mark Fredrickson's cover nails the celebration perfectly — Alfred E. Neuman's gap-toothed grin floats triumphantly among a sky full of tossed mortarboards and reaching hands, looking every bit like the world's most blissfully unconcerned valedictorian. Fredrickson's photorealistic rendering gives the whole chaotic scene a wonderfully absurd polish, balancing genuine jubilation with MAD's signature "what, me worry?" attitude. If there's a better way to send off the graduating class of 2014, we haven't found it.