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.

Facts are facts: The future past was chronicled in the 1970s and Jack Kirby’s Kamandi had a lot going for it. The longest lasting comic by Kirby during his colorful tenure at National Periodicals (DC Comics today) under the watch of publisher Carmine Infantino, it was also nigh-successful at jumping over that large multimedia hurdle and almost becoming an animated series for TV. Back then, that was not just a sign of success for a comic book property, but a huge deal – financial and otherwise.

This cover, of course, was the title’s last issue – as well as one of the run’s most sought-after chapters not featuring work by Kirby. Sporting an action-packed cover by Jim Starlin with Earth’s last human boy and the man who may be “Grandfather,” OMAC, with guns blazing, inside its pages the book also includes a strip beginning a four-part OMAC tale by the veteran creator which would not see conclusion until many years later as a back-up feature in the Mike Grell-created The Warlord.   

Both new readers and longtime fans will learn that this highly collectible casualty of the ill-fated “DC Explosion” of 1978 embodies the most elusive hunt in the medium – comic book immortality. Seek some of that for yourself, as well as the fun that comes with it.

–Scott Braden