The Shadow #1

DC brought one of pulp fiction's most enduring crimefighters to comics readers in 1973 with this launch issue, and Michael Wm. Kaluta's cover sets the tone beautifully — the Shadow looms large in his signature hat, red scarf, and billowing cloak, twin automatics trained outward against a moody cityscape of glittering skyscrapers and an elevated train track below. That tagline — "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" — paired with a mysteriously floating eye in the background captures exactly the brooding atmosphere this character demands. With Denny O'Neil scripting and Kaluta on full art duties for "The Doom Puzzle!," this first DC issue makes a compelling case for the Shadow's place in early-'70s comics.