Playboy #9

In "False Concern," a 1968 issue of Playboy, writer and artist Claude Smith crafts a quietly unsettling moment of human interaction: a man collapses, and a passing priest offers help—only to chuckle to himself once the man is gone. With a single, sharp glance, Smith captures a subtle tension between compassion and irony, all rendered in his distinctive, expressive style. The cover by Claude Smith complements the story’s mood with a similarly enigmatic, off-kilter composition.