Will Forbis wrote: "This is the core of Jaffee's work: the idea that to be alive is to be constantly beleaguered by annoying idiots, poorly designed products and the unapologetic ferocity of fate. Competence and intelligence are not rewarded in life but punished." In the book "Inside Mad", fellow "Mad" writer Desmond Devlin called Jaffee "the irreplaceable embodiment of "Mad Magazine's" range: smart but silly, angry but understanding, sophisticated but gross, upbeat but hopeless. ...He's uncommonly interested in figuring out how things work, and exasperated because things NEVER work."