Buzzing insects and their stings have been on my mind since the topic came in another thread yesterday, and it seemed like a suitable cover contest theme as well. So this week let's make it our beeswax to find covers featuring bees (honey, bumble...) and/or their nastier cousins, like wasps, hornets or yellowjackets. Only one restriction: it has to be actual bees, etc., and not superheroes/villains named after them. So no Wasp, Yellowjacket, Red Bee or whoever else, *unless* they're pictured with actual wasps, yellowjackets, bees and so forth. Outside of that, the field is wide open: they can be giant mutated monstrosities or funny animal-type characters and everything in bee-tween.

Please adhere to these rules (or the queen bee will send a squadron of hornets to get you):

• Post one, and only one, classic cover that fits the theme of the contest.

• Your cover must be from a published comic book or collected volume published before January 2014.

• Please include the title and the issue number of the comic, preferably in bold, in case some posters cannot see your image.

• Covers must be posted before voting begins.

• Voting takes place on Tuesday, January 30th 2024, beginning at 12:01 am PST and ending at 11:59 AM PST.

• Vote by posting the name of the poster whose cover best fits the theme or that you simply like the most in bold.

• The winner of the contest is the entrant with the most votes after the voting period ends.

• The winner gets to choose the theme for the next week's contest.

• If you don't think the cover fits the theme, don't post disparaging remarks about it. Just don't vote for it and keep quiet.

• If a cover is more recent than the classic time frame, kindly point it out to the poster, who may then choose an alternate before voting begins

Here's one to start us off, Jingle Jangle Comics #34 (Eastern, 1949):

Have fun everyone, and make this week's contest the bee's knees!