Captain Marvel #19

This December 1969 issue promises a genuinely unsettling setup, with a massive green-armored villain looming over a glass maze while a shrunken Captain Marvel scrambles through its corridors alongside an enormous rat — the cover taunt "You're caught, Marvel… like a rat in a trap!!" says it all. Gil Kane and Dan Adkins deliver a cover that's equal parts menacing and inventive, using scale and perspective to put the hero at a stark disadvantage against the sneering "Mad Master of the Murder Maze." It's a wonderfully imaginative piece of Silver Age Marvel at its most fun, billing itself as "The Sensational New Captain Marvel" with every ounce of confidence that era could muster.