Green Lantern #22

From 1963 comes this sharp slice of Silver Age DC adventure, with a cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson that puts Hal Jordan in genuine peril — soaring high above a city skyline while his own power ring seemingly turns against him, its green energy coiling like a lasso around his wrist. The bold cover caption, "Master of the Power Ring!," says it all: someone has seized control of the weapon Hal relies on most, and the situation looks anything but reassuring. Gardner Fox's script and Gil Kane's interior art promise exactly the kind of inventive, high-stakes storytelling that made this era of Green Lantern such a treat.