National Comics #63

This December 1947 Quality Comics issue spotlights the carnival-set misadventures of the Barker, teased here with a "close shave with the Bearded Lady!" Al Bryant's cover delivers a wonderfully chaotic circus scene: the grinning Barker in his red suit and cane stands at left, while a large, cheerful woman in red — the Bearded Lady herself — holds the other side of a giant tambourine-like hoop that a small figure in a yellow coat is crashing through, with a muscular strongman in a leopard-skin outfit charging close behind. It's a lively, good-humored snapshot of sideshow comedy that captures exactly the kind of warm, playful energy Quality Comics did so well in the late 1940s.