Four Color #939

Milton Caniff's square-jawed aviator Steve Canyon is front and center on this 1958 Dell issue, riding in an open military jeep and gesturing urgently as a towering rocket blazes on the launch pad behind him and flames light up the chaotic scene. A fellow airman at the wheel and figures scattering in the background give the cover real tension, reinforced by the tagline "The Heat Barrier… Steve had to break it — or burn up!" George Wilson's painted cover work captures both the drama of the space age and the cool-under-pressure appeal that made Canyon a standout adventure hero. With a Civil Air Patrol/USAF Auxiliary emblem proudly displayed and story content by Milton Caniff and Paul S. Newman with art by Ray Bailey, this is a fine snapshot of late-'50s military adventure comics at their most vivid.