'Mazing Man #9

The cover of this September 1986 DC gem says it all: the pint-sized, yellow-costumed 'Mazing Man shouts "HANDS UP!" while brandishing what appears to be a toy gun at two bewildered, considerably larger thugs — all while an Acme Safe Co. safe dangles ominously from ropes overhead. Stephen DeStefano's pencils and Karl Kesel's inks give the whole scene a wonderfully cartoonish energy, with the brick wall behind the trio plastered in "Dark Knight" newsstand headlines adding a fun meta-wink at the 1986 comics landscape. If you're in the mood for a superhero comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously, this issue's "The Bank Job" looks like exactly the right kind of trouble.