Mad #65

Mad's "Special Summer Travel Issue" (No. 65, September 1961) sends up the grand tour with a cover by Kelly Freas that reimagines a stately Roman-style temple as a MAD monument — the frieze cheekily inscribed "QUID ME ANXIUS SUM?" while Alfred E. Neuman's grinning face peers out among the carved stone heads straining to hold up the cracking pediment. Down at the base, clusters of tiny tourists mill about the steps, blissfully unaware that the whole dignified façade is on the verge of collapse. It's a wonderfully deadpan gag that captures MAD's gift for finding the absurd lurking inside every cultural institution.