is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. The last surviving title from the notorious and critically acclaimed EC Comics line (Mad began as a comic book published by EC, debuting in August 1952 with cover-date October-November), the magazine offers satire on all aspects of American life and pop culture, politics, entertainment, and public figures. Its format is divided into a number of recurring segments such as TV and movie parodies, as well as free form articles. Mad's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, is typically the focal point of the magazine's cover, with his face often replacing a celebrity or character that is lampooned within the issue. --

Having been featured by a variety of comic book publishers over the years, the origins of the comic strip fictional crime fighter operating out of the African jungle created in 1936 by Lee Falk was retconned by Moonstone in 2006 and that series ran for 26 issues with two annuals. Last February 11 (2009) Moonstone relaunched the series as starting with issue #0, a retelling of the origins of the character as based on Falk'scomic strips. Issue #5 starts the next story arc entitled, "Return of the Eastern Dark" for which issue #4 serves as introduction and prequel.