Mad #531

Mad's annual "Dumbest of the Year" issue arrives in fine form with #531, as Alfred E. Neuman — dressed in a referee's black-and-white stripes and cap, hands raised in a bewildered shrug — stands on a football field before a giant NFL-shield parody emblazoned "WTF." Mark Fredrickson's painted cover sets the tone perfectly for the magazine's tribute to the year's biggest idiots, promising takedowns of the NFL, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nicki Minaj, Ebola, and more. A gleefully irreverent snapshot of 2014's follies, rendered with Fredrickson's characteristically polished, good-humored craft.