Joe Palooka Comics #11

Ham Fisher's cheerful cover for this 1947 Harvey Comics issue captures a grinning, blond young man mid-leap over a picket fence, brandishing what appears to be a briefcase or satchel overhead while his hat tumbles away — all to the amusement of two oversized onlookers flanking him on either side. Billed right on the cover as "America's Most Famous Comic Hero," Joe Palooka was clearly riding high in 1947, with the boast of over a million copies sold each month. With a story centered on the second Palooka-Grumpopski fight, this issue promises the kind of lively, good-natured fun that made Fisher's creation such a beloved fixture of mid-century comics.