Smash Comics #54

Al Bryant's cover for this August 1944 issue puts the masked hero Midnight front and center — literally — with his confident grin and broad blue hat dominating the image, flanked by a wide-eyed monkey and a wild-bearded figure clutched in a yellow clothespin. The tagline promises that when Midnight goes up against the colorfully named Hammer-Head Horgan and Smear-Face Schmalz, "the fur flies," and that kind of pulpy, anything-goes energy is exactly what made Quality Comics such a treat in the Golden Age. A fine snapshot of wartime comics at their most inventive and fun.