Seall hand-cut the stamp used for this issue. The paint is acrylic.
On the (rather timely!) direction for the project, he had this to say:
"The design for this cover references the seal of the Comics Code Authority, which was a creation of comic book publishers in the 1950s to self-regulate the industry. Its purpose was conceived in response to the widely publicized criticism directed towards comic books alleging that the art form directly promoted juvenile delinquency through graphic depictions of violence and depravity. For over half a century, the Code mandated that, among other noble intentions, "in every instance good shall triumph over evil," and despite having no official oversight of publishers, no comic book distributor would carry a book that did not bear the Code's seal on its cover. As a result, many of the best-selling crime and horror comics of the era were canceled, leaving only the brightly colored and overly simplistic genre of the superhero to sustain the entire industry.
Once a mighty moral arbiter, the Code finally gave up the ghost in early 2011, when Archie Comics, the last publisher to still submit its books to the CCA for review, announced it would no longer seek the Code's approval for their titles. With little fanfare, the Code faded into obsolescence. It now stands only as a bargain-bin relic, a stamp from a time in history when ink drawings were infused with the dreaded power to whip the minds of young men into an amoral frenzy, with only a starkly iconic shield to protect the eyes of the innocent from the prurient and seductive vices hidden within flimsy reams of yellowed dime-store pulp.
Fear not, dear reader... the lines of ink contained within this book still cannot harm you. Unless you allow it."
