CLUB FOR MAD FANS AND EVEN IF U HAVENT READ ONE JOIN FOR FUN

Debuting in August 1952 (cover date October–November), Mad began as a comic book published by EC, then located in Manhattan at 225 Lafayette Street. In the early 1960s, the Mad office moved to 485 Madison Avenue, a location given in the magazine as "485 MADison Avenue".

Written almost entirely by Harvey Kurtzman, the first issue also featured illustrations by Kurtzman himself, along with Wally Wood, Will Elder, Jack Davis and John Severin. Wood, Elder and Davis were the three main illustrators throughout the 23-issue run of the comic book.

In order to retain Kurtzman as its editor, the comic book converted to magazine format as of issue #24 (1955). As it happened, Kurtzman quit the following year, but crucially, the move had also removed Mad from the strictures of the Comics Code Authority. New editor Al Feldstein swiftly brought aboard staffers such as Don Martin, Frank Jacobs, and Mort Drucker, and later, Antonio Prohías and Dave Berg. The magazine's circulation more than quadrupled during Feldstein's tenure, peaking at 2,132,655 in 1974, although it had declined to a third of this figure by the end of his time as editor.[4] When Feldstein retired in 1984, he was replaced by the team of Nick Meglin and John Ficarra, who co-edited Mad for the next two decades. After Meglin retired in 2004, Ficarra continued to edit the magazine. The mascot Alfred.E.Neuman became a star when the animated kid starred on the cover of every MAD magazine there is, and still does today.