Bat Lash #7

DC's charming frontier drifter finds himself in a bad spot on this November 1969 cover by Nick Cardy — Bat Lash is down on the ground, disarmed, his revolver just out of reach, while a menacing figure looms over him with a cocked gun and a wanted poster bearing his name. The "Wanted — Dead or Alive!" banner says it all, and Cardy's crisp linework makes every tense detail — from Bat Lash's signature white hat and floral neckerchief to the smoke curling from the assailant's weapon — feel alive with Western atmosphere. With Sergio Aragonés and Denny O'Neil behind the story and Gaspar Saladino's lettering rounding out the package, this is a fine installment of one of DC's most distinctive Western series.