Blonde Phantom Comics #21

A carnival midway turns into a crime scene in this January 1949 issue, as the red-clad, masked Blonde Phantom leaps dramatically into action, commanding a gun-wielding figure to "Drop that gun!" amid a chaotic backdrop of laughing bystanders, a canvas clown target, a tied-up captive, and a "BANG!" that sends the crowd scrambling. Charles Nicholas's cover art pulls off a wonderful balancing act — equal parts fun-house atmosphere and genuine danger — capturing exactly the kind of unpredictable trouble our heroine thrives on. With a story titled "Kidnaped Into the Future!" waiting inside, this issue promises the sort of imaginative adventure that made Blonde Phantom Comics such a treat in the late Golden Age.