Captain Marvel Adventures #17

Few wartime covers capture the sheer audacity of the World's Mightiest Mortal quite like this one — Captain Marvel in his red uniform goes fist-first into an enemy aircraft mid-air, with a second Axis plane banking nearby and debris exploding outward around him, all rendered with kinetic energy by cover artist C. C. Beck. The bold cover blurb "Captain Marvel Smacks the Axis" leaves no doubt about the patriotic charge running through this 1942 Fawcett publication, and readers were also invited to enter the Great Captain Marvel Contest for a share of $1,500 in prizes. With an interior story titled "The Mummy Mystery" also waiting on page four, this issue packs a lot of promise into its ten cents.