Superman #176

Few scenarios could put Superman in a tighter corner than a courtroom oath — and that's exactly where Curt Swan and George Klein place him on this April 1965 cover, chalk in hand, writing "My secret identity is…" on a blackboard before a stern judge and a gallery of anxious onlookers. The cover for "Superman's Day of Truth!" turns the Man of Steel's most guarded secret into a legal dilemma, with spectators whispering that revealing his real name would mean the end of his career. It's the kind of deceptively simple premise that made Silver Age Superman comics so irresistible — high stakes wrapped in an utterly matter-of-fact setting.