Blackhawk #191

This December 1963 DC issue delivers a genuinely unsettling cover scene, penciled by Dick Dillin and inked by Sheldon Moldoff: a red-masked villain fires a molecule-smasher ray at Blackhawk, whose body is fragmenting into a swirling mass of disconnected particles before our eyes. Behind them, fellow Blackhawk squadron members look on in alarm, one exclaiming "Sacre bleu! He has used his molecule-smasher on Blackhawk!" — a speech bubble that sells the stakes perfectly without a word of interior story needed. Packed with two complete tales — "Menace of the Molecule Man" and "Tales of the Blackhawk Emblem" — this issue offers a solid double dose of the team's signature aerial-adventure spirit.