Midnight, September 9, 1922

A classical female figure in diaphanous drapery strikes a dynamic pose against a grandfather clock at midnight, torch held aloft. The cover announces fiction by John F. Hylan and references Emma Goldman alongside pulp-adventure staples. Published by Macfadden at a dime, Midnight exemplified the illustrated magazines that dominated American newsstands in the 1920s. Painted covers like this—featuring idealized figures, dramatic lighting, and genre signifiers—drove sales while serialized fiction below delivered crime, romance, and scandal. These wood-pulp magazines established visual and narrative conventions that comic books would absorb: dynamic composition, bold typography, and the promise of thrills compressed into a single arresting image.