DC Comics Presents #25

This September 1980 team-up title pairs Superman and the Phantom Stranger in a cover split neatly between cosmic and infernal stakes — on the left, Superman charges forward fist-first against a backdrop of spacecraft, while on the right the enigmatic, cape-shrouded Phantom Stranger stands amid roaring flames confronting a dark-clad woman, with a young boy's portrait (identified as Jon Ross) inset between them. The cover copy promises a journey "from a star-spanning showdown to the fiery pits of hell," with our heroes racing to save Jon Ross's soul — or forfeit their own. Ross Andru and Dick Giordano's cover work sets a genuinely compelling tone, and this issue also launches the new "Whatever Happened To—?" backup series, kicking things off with an update on Hourman, giving readers eight extra thrill-packed pages for their fifty cents.