Superboy #29

From December 1953 comes this delightful DC ten-center featuring a cover by Win Mortimer that tells a mischievous story at a glance: a laughing crook brags that this job is "a cinch" with Superboy on his side, while the Boy of Steel — dangling on puppet strings — swoops toward a uniformed guard who scrambles to stop a tumbling safe. The image of Smallville's greatest hero reduced to a marionette is genuinely clever, and the featured story "The Puppet Superboy!" promises plenty of twists to match that teasing cover scene. Curt Swan and Sy Barry handle the interior art, making this a fine snapshot of early-'50s DC storytelling at its most imaginative.