Rusty Comics #18

This 1948 humor comic delivers a perfectly timed domestic punchline right on its cover: a red-haired mother daydreams about all the wonderful things the family can buy once Dad gets his raise — only for Dad to come flying through the doorway with a resounding "YOU'RE FIRED!" while the kids look on in wide-eyed, gleeful disbelief. The gap between hopeful fantasy and chaotic reality is pure postwar comedy gold, captured in that wonderfully expressive cartoony style Marvel's humor titles did so well. Rusty Comics #18 is a charming ten-cent snapshot of mid-century family life at its most hilariously ill-timed.