This is, as the title of the blog post indicates, the first comic book cover I can remember. Not sure if it’s the first one I ever owned or saw, but it’s the first one I remember. As you can tell from the scan (click to enlarge), it’s pretty well-read and time-worn.
The story within is actually pretty good (though I admit that might be nostalgia talking), but that cover is pure gold. Imagine you’re a kid and you see this cover for the first time. How can you not beg (threaten, if necessary!) your parents to buy that comic? How can you not read it in one big, greedy gulp? Superman — last son of Krypton…last man on Earth? Superman — begging God to spare him a horrible fate? Superman — the premier super-hero in the world…in a pose not of confident action, but of abject loss and supplication?
God, I love this effing cover!
Oh, and look closely and you’ll get a nice little bonus: The newspaper in the foreground has a headline that reads (in part): “WORLD FINISH.” How perfect!
(From Superman #294, December 1975. Cover by Ernie Chan.)