Say what you will about the New 52; good or bad, there's nothing on offer anywhere near as cool as Plastic Man and Black Lightning with top hats and canes. And that's a damn shame. Fellow Warner outlet Mad has this brilliant explanation for why the Justice League no longer refers to themselves as the Super Friends.

Alfred E. Newman gets eaten by zombies on the cover of Mad Magazine #512. I'll be attending the Mad panel at New York Comic Con next week, which should be pretty special as the mag is coming up on it's - wow - 60th anniversary.

Here's the full cover, click on the image to see it in crazy hi-resolution.

Al Jaffee's brilliant Mad Magazine fold-ins are being collected in this super-sweet deluxe slipcase box set from Chronicle Books.

Al Jaffee's fold-ins, on the inside back cover of virtually every issue of MAD Magazine since 1964, have become an icon of American humor. Generations have grown up with Jaffee's inspired skewerings of our foibles and cultural conundrums. Issue after issue, each Fold-in requires the reader to simply fold the page so that arrow A meets arrow B to reveal the hidden gag image, a simple idea that masks both undeniable artistic ingenuity and comic timing. In this deluxe four-volume set, each of the 410 fold-ins is reproduced at its original size, with a digital representation of the corresponding "folded" image on the following page (so collectors won't have to "fold" their book to get the jokes). Featuring insightful essays by such luminaries as Pixar's Pete Docter and humorist Jules Feiffer, The MAD Fold-In Collection is the definitive gift for the millions of fans who've grown up with MAD for nearly 60 years.

The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010

The long-running humor magazine MAD is coming to Cartoon Network in the form of a new 15-minute TV series. The cartoon show will feature various new comedy sketches inspired by the magazine as well as old cartoons such as Spy. Vs. Spy. The LA Times has an interview with the show’s producers Mark Marek (Crank Yankers) and Kevin Shinick (Robot Chicken) about how they went about bringing the show to television, what sort of humor that they’re going for and what type of audience they’re expecting for the series to have. MAD debuts tomorrow on Cartoon Network at 8:30 PM EST.

The new cartoon series based on Mad Magazine, Mad debuts on the Cartoon Network on Monday September 6th at 8:30 pm (ET, PT). The usual gang of idiots takes their parody-heavy satire to TV with features like “Avaturds,” “CSICarly,” and “Toys4Brats,” plus such Mad Magazine staples as “Spy vs. Spy,” Alfred E. Neuman, and cartoons by Don Martin and Sergio Aragones brought to life.