Four Color #6

Chester Gould's sharp-jawed detective takes center stage on this 1939 Dell offering, depicted in his signature red overcoat and fedora as he works a telephone with focused intensity, a uniformed officer with a star badge looking on from behind. Sixty-eight pages of full-color crime-fighting adventure for just a dime made this an impressive package for Depression-era readers. It's a wonderfully evocative snapshot of comics' early days, with Gould's clean, confident linework giving the cover an immediacy that still feels alive.