The recent passing of Al Feldstein, the longtime editor of MAD Magazine, got me to dig out my old collection of MAD magazines and books. Although much of the humor is badly dated, the influence of MAD's artists and writers on future artists and designers--including many artists who created the artwork for classic pinball games--is undeniable.
If you look particularly at monster/horror themed games like Monster Bash. Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Tales from the Crypt, you see it right away. The level of artistic detail, the expert use of lines, shading and color, the "crowding" of various elements into areas in ways that the jokes can't even be read, the objectification of women, the mixture of gothic and (for the time) contemporary humor really show the influences of MAD, particularly the first "comic book" issues that parodied various movie genres. Look at these pins and you get a sense that the artists and designers were having a total blast in creating this artwork and wanted to throw in as many things as they could, knowing full well that many players wouldn't even notice all of them. With the move to licensed properties since the demise of Bally/Williams, this kind of MAD-influenced high-quality art and design have really been lost.