MAD #30

This is the first MAD magazine cover that Alfred E. Neuman , named by MAD’s second editor, appears front and center in. It came out in December of 1956, four years after the creation of the magazine. This is important, because he has appeared in almost every cover of the magazine since. Neuman is a character from late 19th century America, and MAD started using him after Harvey Kurtzman saw him drawn in an advert in his dentist’s office. The nameless character was used in a handful of advertisements beginning in the late 1800s, but was officially picked up by MAD in the 1950s.

In the mid 1960s there was a debate regarding the copyright of the Neuman character that made it to the supreme court; his true origins are unknown, but MAD was ruled to have ownership over the character.