Big Town #31

Clocks cover every surface and "TIC TOCK!" echoes across the room as a desperate man in a rumpled suit — identified as Steve — races to find the one timepiece hiding a live bomb, while a frightened woman behind him warns that the locked door leaves them no way out. This cover by Gil Kane (pencils) and Joe Giella (inks) wrings every drop of suspense from a single ticking minute, making the tension almost palpable. Based on TV's hit show and featuring new stories written by John Broome with interior art by Manny Stallman and John Giunta, this 1955 DC offering is a fine slice of mid-decade crime-drama storytelling at its most nerve-wracking.