Not Brand Echh #5

Marvel's gleefully self-deprecating humor anthology returns for its fifth issue, and the cover — by Tom Sutton, John Romita, and Marie Severin — promises a "Big Peace and Quiet Issue!" while depicting anything but: a massive Hulk and rocky Thing loom over a chaotic pile-up of parody Avengers including Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, all crashing through what appears to be a wall. Perched above the mayhem on a rooftop, the red-suited, pot-helmeted Forbush-Man blissfully announces "Nothing ever happens around here!" — a wonderfully absurd introduction for "the one, the only, the unmitigated" new character heralded by the cover's bold yellow lettering. For twelve cents in 1967, Marvel was clearly having a great time poking fun at its own superhero universe, and that infectious irreverence jumps right off the page.