Superboy #143

Neal Adams delivers a genuinely unsettling cover for this 1967 DC issue, depicting Superboy plummeting headfirst toward Smallville far below, his cape trailing upward as a river and cityscape rush toward him from a dizzying bird's-eye perspective. The cover text teases the story inside as "The Big Fall!" — and Adams makes every inch of that title feel earned, with the Boy of Steel's wide-eyed expression suggesting something has gone very wrong with his powers. Written and illustrated by E. Nelson Bridwell and Al Plastino, this twelve-cent issue pairs a gripping interior team with a striking cover that stops you cold.