1st Issue Special #11

DC's 1st Issue Special #11 from 1976 spotlights Code Name: Assassin, a dark-suited, masked hero shown levitating over open water — glowing yellow energy rings swirling around him, pistol raised — as a gun-toting villain aboard a nearby ship taunts that he'd "have to walk on water to get to us now." Mike Grell's cover art plays that irony perfectly, with a city skyline visible in the distance and the hero clearly doing exactly what his enemies thought impossible. With an interior creative team including Gerry Conway, Steve Skeates, and the Redondo studio, this is a genuinely intriguing snapshot of mid-'70s DC experimenting with action-thriller heroes.