The Human Torch #21

This Winter 1945 issue from Marvel showcases a wonderfully chaotic Alex Schomburg cover: the flaming Human Torch blazes through what appears to be a villainous laboratory, while a young man is trapped inside a glass chamber connected to "D.D.T." apparatus, surrounded by a crowd of alarmed and sinister-looking onlookers. A Sub-Mariner badge in the corner hints at more adventure within, and the whole scene radiates that urgent, anything-goes energy that made Golden Age comics so thrilling. Interior art comes courtesy of Mike Sekowsky and Allen Bellman on the story "Death Writes a Diary" — a title that promises the Torch is up against something genuinely dangerous.