Sugar & Spike #96

Sheldon Mayer's cover for this 1971 DC charmer captures Sugar and Spike in the middle of department-store mischief — little Spike is boldly riding the down escalator while Sugar tags along below, and a portly gentleman in a striped suit looks on with the thought bubble "Now THIS should be interesting!" The scene has that warm, effortlessly funny energy Mayer brought to every corner of this series, and at 64 pages you're getting a generous helping of it. The cover also teases a "Write Your Own Comic Page — Win Ten Dollars!" contest, making issue #96 a fun snapshot of how DC engaged young readers in 1971.