The image is used as the sole image to illustrate a section about the article's subject, a comic-book publishing company. This is a historically notable cover of a famously failed attempt at reviving the moribund superhero genre in the mid-1950s. Comic books are a visual medium, and an image of the product is necessary for a significant understanding of the subject. The image is being used in an informative way. As only a cover of a single issue, the image does not limit the ability of either the publisher to sell the issue from which it came. It does not stand in the place of future reprints. The publication is the subject of the critical commentary.
No free use image available. As this is a fictional, copyrighted character and a copyrighted publication, a freely-licensed alternative could not reasonably be obtained.
Licensing
This image is from a comic strip, webcomic or from the cover or interior of a comic book. The copyright for this image is most likely owned by either the publisher of the comic or the writer(s) and/or artist(s) which produced the comic in question. It is believed that
the use of low-resolution images of the cover of a comic book to illustrate:
the issue of the comic book in question;
the periodical comic book series of which this issue is a part; or
the copyrighted comic book character(s) or group(s) on the cover of the issue in question;
or the use of low-resolution images of a single panel from a comic strip or an interior page of a comic book to illustrate:
the scene or storyline depicted, or
the copyrighted character(s) or group(s) depicted on the excerpted panel in question;
where no free alternative exists or can be created,