Captain Marvel Jr. #107

There's something wonderfully disarming about this 1952 Fawcett cover: Captain Marvel Jr. sits calmly on a couch reading a book titled Tales of Mystery and Imagination, completely unbothered by the wild menagerie of bizarre creatures — a hulking green monster, a pink multi-limbed thing, a spotted blob, and several other grotesque beings — crowding around him, as he cheerfully announces, "Oh, it's only YOU! For a moment you startled me!" Bud Thompson's artwork plays the whole surreal scene with a light, comedic touch that makes the horror-tinged imagery genuinely fun rather than frightening. Promising "Laughs, Suspense, Mystery" and teasing a story called "The Horror Dimension," this issue delivers exactly the kind of playful, anything-goes spirit that made Fawcett's superhero comics such an entertaining read.