Captain Marvel Adventures #21

Right in the thick of World War II, this February 1943 Fawcett issue puts Captain Marvel front and center in his red-and-gold uniform, aiming what the cover text identifies as the "Honesty Ray" — a device resembling a movie camera — directly at a cowering Hitler and his panicked associates, a large Nazi banner looming on the wall behind them. Marvel's grinning speech bubble — "Hold that pose, Adolf! This isn't going to hurt you — MUCH!" — captures the gleeful, patriotic defiance that made this series the best-selling comic magazine of its day. C. C. Beck's clean, confident linework gives the scene a satisfying punch, and with Otto Binder contributing to the interior, issue #21 is a vivid snapshot of wartime comics at their most spirited.