Feature Comics #73

This November 1943 anthology from Quality Comics packs in a roster of characters — Poison Ivy, Swing Sisson, Big Top, Spin Shaw, Professor Noddle, The Doll Man, Rusty Ryan, Blimpy, and Mickey Finn — each spotlighted in colorful portrait boxes framing the cover. Gill Fox's cover art delivers a wonderfully absurd wartime scene: a heavyset man rows a small boat through choppy seas with a live bull looming behind him, while a startled companion looks on — all prompted, a speech bubble cheekily explains, by lost meat ration coupons necessitating a trip to Argentina for beef. It's a charming snapshot of home-front humor woven into the golden-age anthology format, with a ten-cent price tag that made this kind of richly packed comic a genuine weekly treat.