Mystery in Space #56

DC's Mystery in Space #56 from 1959 showcases a genuinely unsettling cover by Gil Kane and Bernard Sachs: a massive living atom — its core a single glaring eye, spiky rays blazing outward — blasts deadly radiation at Alanna, who reels helplessly against a futuristic cityscape while Adam Strange rushes forward in his red-and-white suit, ray gun raised in a desperate bid to intervene. The cover's tagline makes the stakes crystal clear — "A Gigantic Living Atom — Shooting Its Deadly Radiations at Alanna!" — and the tension in those two figures facing down something so alien and enormous is exactly what made this series a standout of Silver Age science fiction comics. Inside, John Broome's writing and Gil Kane's art (inked by Murphy Anderson) bring "The Menace of the Super-Atom!" to life, promising the kind of imaginative cosmic adventure that defined this title at its ten-cent best.