Detective Comics #17

From July 1938, this early entry in DC's foundational anthology series delivers a genuinely gripping cover by Creig Flessel: a trench-coated detective crouches in a dimly lit cavern, gun raised, as a lantern throws eerie light across the rocky ground while the looming shadow of a mysterious figure threatens from the right. The tension between the lone investigator and that ominous silhouette sets a perfectly pulpy noir atmosphere. Inside, Sven Elvén brings "The Snake Death" to life — a title that promises exactly the kind of hardboiled danger these pre-war detective anthologies did so well.