[crashryan]

I'm struck by how UNdynamic Quality hero covers were around this time. The company was never into the rock-'em-sock-'em covers favored by other publishers, but around 1947 the majority of their hero books featured generic, often symbolic cover illustrations notable for their restraint. There were lots of pictures of the star in a hero pose against a blank background and poster shots of the hero surrounded by vignettes of his supporting cast (both full body and head-only versions). Modern Comics, which always had the most active of the Quality covers, even devoted a cover to Blackhawk putting on his gloves! This lasted about a year, after which covers gradually became more action-oriented with scenes that related to the stories inside. It had to have been an editorial choice. Maybe it was so Quality could say, "See? OUR covers aren't violent!" At any rate market pressures seem to have put an end to the experiment.

Link to the book: Hit Comics 46 (alt)