In Action #355, Mort Weisinger published this interesting list of cover collections:
Except, maddeningly, although he insisted that the writers include the title and issue numbers, he did not publish that information except for a few, such as Detective #40, 66 and 144. So I thought it might make an interesting contest to try to come up with lists for each of these categories, as shown in the column:
1. Five males over 10 years old (33)
2. Superheroes on foreign soil (28)
3. Unusual belts (30)
4. Means of transportation (33)
5. Numbers not issue numbers (25)
6. Stars (28)
7. Empty hands clenched (25)
8. Shadows (33)
9. Gloves, not worn by heroes who normally wear them (36)
10. Chains and shackles (28)
11. Stone (33)
12. Statues (25)
13. Clouds, gas, dust or smoke (26)
14. People with eyes closed (48)
15. Emblems with letters (32) Note: Only one per character.
16. Questions (31)
17. Bare legs (35)
18. Hero and secret identity (30)
19. No hero or heroine (27)
20. No villain (27)
21. Blond hair not feature character (25)
22. Yellow titles (25)
23. Headquarters (32)
I took a few out because they seemed too easy; almost every issue of Detective from about 1960-1963 featured
Robin in profile as Mark Engblom documented a couple years ago.
Some ground rules: DC titles, as per Weisinger's requirement. Since Action #355 was the July 1967 issue, no comics after that date. And since you can use sources like the GCD for your covers, no comics published before 1955.
For the heck of it, here is my stab at #14, chains and shackles.
1. Superman #102
2. Superman #115
3. Superman #191
4. Action #235
5. Action #263
6. Action #286
7. Action #295
8. Action #318
9. Action #319
10. Superboy #109
11. Superboy #110
12. Superboy #120
13. Adventure #348
14. Batman #110
15. Batman #111
16. Batman #163
17. Wonder Woman #73
18. Wonder Woman #106
19. Jimmy Olsen #94
20. Lois Lane #73
21. Justice League of America #22
22. Blackhawk #118
23. Blackhawk #179
24. Blackhawk #184
25. Blackhawk #197
26. Hawkman #6
27. Hawkman #8
28. Hawkman #16
What struck me in compiling that list is how often the chains were used for some other purpose than restraining someone (other than Superman, who did indeed tend to get shackled a lot, usually with green K manacles). For example, Batman #111 featured the Caped Crusaders swinging with chains as ropes would not hold them in their new armored uniforms. And while Wonder Woman in the Golden Age often seemed like a B&D mag, in #73, she's pulling a ship by its anchor, which is attached to a chain. Hawkman's three covers with chains are similarly non-binding:
Some other cover types that were probably common in the DC Silver Age: Apes, duplicates of the heroes (many, many, Wonder Woman covers featured this theme), fat and/or excessively tall characters.
Good hunting!
Update: Commenter
Jonathan L. Miller points out that one of the cover collectors,
Paul Karasik, retained his affection for comics and has published several books:
I have not read any of them, but I have read many of the Fletcher Hanks stories in Fantastic Comics (the subject of the "I Shall Destroy" and "You Shall Die" books). Mark Engblom reviewed the
former book here. I can certainly attest that the Stardust stories are every bit as demented as Mark indicates in his review. They are wildly entertaining and completely insane.
Adventures of the Dover Boys is drawn by Harry Lucey.
