Captain America Comics #11

From February 1942, this tenth-cent wartime adventure puts Captain America front and center — literally — as he drives his red-white-and-blue shield into a rugged antagonist while a chaotic brawl erupts all around him, with Bucky visible on the ground amid a tangle of rough-looking mountaineer figures. Cover artists Al Avison and George Klein pack the scene with raw kinetic energy, capturing Cap mid-leap against a smoky rural backdrop that sets the stage for "The Case of the Squad of Mystery." The cover's own caption asks whether Cap can reach Bucky in time to save him from feuding mountaineers, making this a compelling snapshot of Golden Age superhero storytelling at its most urgent.