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

Believe it or not: Before Charlton Comics published the adventures of the Blue Beetle, they published...the adventures of the Blue Beetle. Let me explain.

According to The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, Charlton brought back the Golden Age Blue Beetle from comic purgatory to 1950s newsstands since he vanished along with his original publisher, Fox Feature Publications. Published bimonthly, this landmark Space Adventures issue from October-November 1954 reintroduced the costumed crimefighter through a reprinted story and an homage cover to Fox’s Blue Beetle #58 by artist Al Fago.

Another fun fact about this cover is that it is the second to last pre-Code Space Adventures issue – meaning those that followed, even the issues that featured Steve Ditko and Joe Gill’s brilliant Captain Atom stories, were watered down for a more “juvenile” audience.

So if you find a copy of Space Adventures #13, keep it like the gem that it is – you know, the one that the Golden Age iteration wears to fight crime. And, with a modern Blue Beetle movie on the horizon courtesy of the DCU, it just might live on in our imaginations and the big screen the world over.

–Scott Braden