From The Lighter Side of Love, MAD #142, April 1971
Artist & Writer: Dave Berg
Where did Alfred E. Neuman come from? When did he first appear in MAD? No one’s exactly sure where Alfred came from, although illustrations of a grinning gap-toothed boy similar to Alfred have been traced back to at least the 1800s. Other Alfred-like images kicked around for years in various ads, postcards and even other magazines, before first appearing in early issues of MAD. At first, Alfred was a character with several different names (including Mel Haney, Melvin Coznowski and the What-Me Worry? kid) who simply appeared in the background of different articles, but in issue #29 (September, 1956) he was stuck with the name Alfred E. Neuman and one issue later, Alfred made his first full-color appearance on the cover in a portrait drawn by Norman Mingo. If you’d like to know more, we suggest that you read Maria Reidelbach’s Completely MAD, a book that traces the history of MAD. But first we suggest that you call the publisher and beg them to put the book back in print! (In the meantime, you can check your local used bookstore to see if they have a copy.)
- from the MAD Website @ DC Comics
MAD Super Special cover from Spring 1982: “Sports”
with detail of Sergio Aragones’ artwork (click high res)
Click to view the article, THE GENIUS OF DON MARTIN
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