Showcase #38

From out of smoke and flame, DC's most unique band of robot fighters assembles in this 1962 installment of Showcase — the Metal Men face "The Nightmare Menace!" as a massive, locomotive-headed mechanical giant looms over the city while Gold stretches into action, a yellow-suited man (Doc) is swept away, and teammates including the feminine Gold and a darker-hued robot scramble across the foreground. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito deliver a wonderfully kinetic cover that captures the team's mix of heroism and peril, with a speech bubble urgently calling on Gold to save Doc. A great snapshot of early-'60s DC imagination at its most inventive.