The Atom #23

DC's "World's Smallest Super-Hero" takes on a decidedly carnival-gone-wrong challenge in this March 1966 issue, featuring cover art penciled by Gil Kane and inked by Murphy Anderson. The cover shows a tiny Atom in his red-and-blue costume leaping into action against a suited thief wielding a green jack-in-the-box, its sinister clown springing up while scattered bills flutter nearby — a wonderfully offbeat threat that makes the tagline "when this jack-in-the-box flips its lid, the action goes WILD!" feel entirely earned. With Gardner Fox writing and Gil Kane on interior art, this "Thief With the Tricky Toy" promises the sharp Silver Age storytelling that made this series such a treat.