What makes the best comic book covers? It’s a great topic for debate. For us as individuals there is no wrong answer, of course. It’s purely subjective. But with a little thought it is frequently possible to explain what it is about a particular image that grabs you. The best ones are the ones that make you stop and check out something you weren’t previously going to purchase – and in some cases, you even end up picking up a title you’ve never even heard of before.

Some of the very best comics are a reflection of their time. When Fawcett Comics’ Captain Midnight #11 was published in the 1940s, the fires of war had been set aflame all over the world, the thunder and clash of war planes filled the skies over our heads, and the American spirit was brimming over.

To set the stage, the good captain – star of radio and movies – was no stranger to comic book readers and audiences beyond. Captain Midnight was in reality Captain Jim “Red” Albright, a military pilot in the tradition of Blackhawk who was given his codename by a general who sent him on high risk missions from which he always returned at the stroke of midnight.

Illustrated by comics legend Emmanuel “Mac” Raboy (the artistic genius behind Captain Marvel, Jr.; Quality’s Kid Eternity; Spark’s Green Lama; and King Features’ Flash Gordon), the cover features the epic rendering of our hero inside of his cockpit, guns at the ready, aiming to strike yet another blow for freedom.

Consider the dramatic lighting and realism of the sequence, as it depicts Captain Midnight in the urgency of battle – where everything is on the line.

Although quietly appreciated by Golden Age collectors and Raboy enthusiasts alike, Captain Midnight #11 is one of the best aerial war covers that fans don’t talk about. Still a relatively easy find and made affordable to the persistent collector, it captures the imaginations of readers who discover it in collections today (as well as back on the newsstands of yesteryear) as it advertised the thrilling adventures found within the issue’s comic book pages.

–Scott Braden