It's fascinating to see how MAD's covers have evolved over the years. It started as a comic book in 1952 with covers drawn by creator Harvey Kurtzman. He also wrote the stories in each issue, but they were illustrated by artists like Wally Wood and Jack Davis. When the publisher, EC, was almost wiped out during the comic book moral panic of the mid-50s, EC stopped publishing their great horror and science fiction titles and converted MAD into a magazine.
Doug Gilford's MAD Cover Site has all 553 covers, from 1952 to the present day. As you browse through the decades, it's interesting to see how the covers reflect the culture of the time in which they were published.
From Open Culture:
To see the archive's covers in a large format, you need only scroll to the desired year, click on the issue number, and then click on the image that appears. (Alternatively, those with advanced Mad knowledge can simply pick an issue number from the pull-down "Select-a-Mad" menu at the top of the page.) Gilford keeps the site updated with covers right up to the latest issue: number three, as of this writing, since the magazine "rebooted" this past June as it relocated its offices from New York to California. Recent targets have included Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, and, of course, Donald Trump. Mad's longevity may be surprising, but it certainly doesn't look like America will stop providing the ridiculousness on which it has always survived any time soon.
