Black Diamond Western #31

This February 1952 entry in Lev Gleason's Black Diamond Western series delivers a vivid cover by Charles Biro, showing the masked Black Diamond hero leveling his revolver at close range while a startled, rope-tangled man in a striped shirt stumbles helplessly — a masked bandit and a downed figure rounding out the tense scene. The promise of three feature-length "Illustories" inside, including the intriguingly titled "Incredible Saga of the Purple Feather," makes this a satisfying package of frontier adventure. At ten cents, it's a fine snapshot of early-'50s Western comics at their most spirited.