National Comics #72

This June 1949 Quality Comics issue spotlights The Barker in a wonderfully absurd dinner-table scene rendered by cover artist Gill Fox: a shirtless, lanky fellow cheerfully squirts fire extinguishers at a blazing campfire set right on the dining table, while a dapper, wide-eyed man in a red pinstripe suit looks on in alarm and a small bowler-hatted figure puffs on a cigar beside a book titled How to Become a Fire Eater in Six Easy Lessons. The cover teases The Barker's adventure finding the "Oldest Man in the World," written and drawn by Bernard Dibble, promising the kind of warm, good-natured humor that made carnival-themed comics such a delight in the late Golden Age.