Gorgo #8

This Charlton gem from 1962 ties into the King Brothers' M.G.M. film property with a cover — penciled by Joe Sinnott and inked by Vince Colletta — that sets an Arctic stage for serious monster mayhem: the massive, scaly Gorgo looms open-jawed over a snarling polar bear clutched in his grip, while a small human figure in an orange parka watches from the icy ground below. The cover teases a story promising "a legendary tropical paradise in the midst of the frozen Arctic," as Gorgo and his mother head toward "The Graveyard of Lost Ships." It's a wonderfully dramatic 12-cent package that captures exactly why giant-monster comics of the early 1960s held such a grip on young imaginations.