2001, A Space Odyssey #4

Based on concepts from the MGM/Stanley Kubrick production, Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey #4 from 1977 takes readers on a self-contained cosmic adventure with "Wheels of Death!" — promising that as doom pursued one man, a new life began. Jack Kirby's pencils, inked on the cover by Frank Giacoia, deliver a desperate armored figure lunging forward amid a churning wall of fire and destruction, with a haunting face inset in the upper corner hinting at the psychological weight beneath the action. With Kirby also handling the interior writing and art alongside inker Mike Royer, colorist Glynis Wein, and letterer Mike Royer, this issue channels the full creative force of one of 1977's most ambitious Marvel series.