It may be the most influential humor book of the twentieth century. Most of those who write humor for TV, movies and almost any other medium will tell you that they read MAD as a kid. This issue is one of the best written in the title’s run. Early issues of MAD were at their best when they parodied their own medium, comics. For this issue, Archie becomes Starchie and the nature strip Mark Trail becomes Mark Trade. Another area of MAD’s strength was its ability to take apart movies. This issue deconstructs From Here to Eternity. They do such a thorough job that you don‘t need to have seen the movie to still find it funny. This issue features the work of Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Jack Davis and Wallace Wood. This issue also contains a full page house ad for Panic and MAD. There is also an early letter column called MAD Mumblings. The book was only a comic for 23 issues; after that it became a black and white magazine. This copy was taken directly from the files of the publisher of EC Comics, William M. Gaines. As a file copy, it never saw the regular route of distribution. It sat in a vault for years until Gaines decided to sell his personal collection. The pages are off-white to white. The book is CGC-certified 9.6 (NM+). According to the CGC Census, this copy is tied with three others as the second highest graded copy they have seen. 50 years old and Starchie is still funny.