Black Diamond Western #40

This November 1952 entry in Lev Gleason's frontier series delivers a cover bursting with saddle-leather tension — Black Diamond himself confronts a gang of red-hooded riders on horseback, guns flying and a captive man dragged along the ground as the masked hero demands they release their prisoner. The bold speech bubbles ("Release that man and take those hoods off, you pigs!") give the scene an almost cinematic urgency that holds up remarkably well. Three feature-length Black Diamond illustories are promised inside, along with a 22-prize cash contest that would have made this a genuine event on the newsstand in 1952.