Mad #540

Mad's August 2016 cover is a wonderfully absurdist piece of political caricature: a wide-eyed, open-mouthed Donald Trump figure looms large against a Washington, D.C. skyline — the Washington Monument and Capitol dome clearly visible — while the top of his head swings open like a jack-in-the-box lid, sending Alfred E. Neuman bouncing up on a coil spring with his trademark gap-toothed grin. It's the kind of visual gag that says everything without saying a word, and Hermann Mejia's hyper-detailed painted caricature pulls it off with gleeful precision. Inside, "The Official Stormtrooper Recruitment Pamphlet" promises the irreverent satirical energy Mad has always delivered so reliably.