Dial B for Blog did a whole feature on the DC house ad campaign for the Kirby books when they headhunted Kirby from Marvel. This may have been the first time the creator was hyped as a marketing point by a publisher and not just within fandom.

-M

This is the earliest example I know of, from 1943 (also involving Kirby, with Joe Simon):


The "Sandman by Simon & Kirby" credit appeared on the next three covers of Adventure, i.e. up to #83.

After adapting a Ray Bradbury story without his permission, EC Comics was called on it by Bradbury in as gentlemanly a way as you might expect. EC promptly made a deal with him to adapt many of his stories and prominently featured his name on the covers of a few of their titles, beginning in late 1952 as best I can tell.

EDIT: Might this be the first instance of a writer being exclusively featured this way?


    

I think I found the first mention of a creator's name on the cover of a comic book:



Percy Crosby's strip "Skippy" was collected in comic book form in February 1934. It was the fourth comic book ever published.

It's kind of cool that Kirby was used as a selling point on his return to Marvel.

Same with this book-