Mystic #31

Atlas Comics served up genuinely unsettling mysteries in 1954, and this issue of Mystic is a fine example of that eerie craft. Carl Burgos's cover depicts a towering, ghostly suited figure — hat, glasses, and all — looming over a nighttime cityscape while tiny figures on the street below remain oblivious to his presence, the whole image wrapped in a star-flecked void. The bold taunt "You'll Never Guess What This Is About!!" is hard to argue with — whatever "The Last Look!" has in store, the cover alone earns its promise of "the most unusual stories ever told.