the editor, bernie shircliff, of the paperback put this face on the cover, and when i saw it i felt thathat wou ba wonderful logo for "mad" because we were in an era where every rporation had a visual logo like the barking dog at rca or the green giant or the smith brothers. >>epte b t fe needed a name. during the early comic book days, al often wrote under a pseudonym, a fake name. that name was alfred e. neuman. history was born. long before there was "the daily show," "mad" was poking fun at things many people took very seriously. al saw "mad's" role as telling readers, especially teens, that it oy qstn e ul world. from big corporations to even ouelected officials. >> we were trying to teach everybody to be skeptical about what they read and what they saw and what they were told and what eyerto tbeevin that there were people with agendas that were lying to them and to read between the lines as far as articles are concerned, as far as editorials are concerned, as far as advertising was concerned, and not to take anything for granted without analyzing it for yourself and believing in wh