House of Secrets #140

DC's House of Secrets #140 (1976) promises an origin story with some serious dramatic weight — the banner declares it "An Epic of Life and Death!" and the cover by Ernie Chan delivers on that mood in full. Against a smoldering red sky and a blazing yellow moon, the hulking, bandage-wrapped Patchwork Man lurches through a city street, strips of tattered cloth trailing from his massive frame as a police officer scrambles to confront him. It's a vivid, unsettling image that sets up Gerry Conway's story with art from Nestor Redondo and Buddy Gernale — a solid creative team for a tale that clearly aims for something more haunting than your average mid-'70s horror anthology.