Action Comics #459

Superman trades blows mid-air with a green-costumed, purple-caped villain while an unseen bystander's desperate speech bubble — "If one of them doesn't win that fight quick... ...I'M DEAD!" — makes the stakes bracingly clear on this May 1976 cover penciled by Carmine Infantino and Ernie Chan with inks by Bob Oksner. The yellow-sky composition crackles with energy bursts at the point of impact, and a ghostly figure tumbles in the background, suggesting the chaos extends well beyond this two-man clash. Rounding out the package is a promised backup feature on "The Private Life of Clark Kent," making issue #459 a solid double-dose of the Man of Steel.