Mr. District Attorney #39

A chilling image graces this May-June 1954 DC issue: a skeletal, red-robed figure of Death itself extends a bony hand to thumb a ride, while two unsuspecting occupants sit in a sleek green convertible, blissfully unaware of who — or what — is hitching along. The inset portrait of Mr. District Attorney watches over the scene with steely resolve, and the cover's stark warning to "read 'Death Thumbs a Ride' and take heed" gives this ten-cent issue a genuine public-service urgency that feels both eerie and earnest. Cover art by Curt Swan, Howard Purcell, Stan Kaye, and Charles Paris makes this a finely crafted snapshot of mid-1950s crime comics at their most atmospheric.