Bizarre Adventures #28

Marvel's oversized magazine format was made for stories like this — Bizarre Adventures #28 arrives in October 1981 with a cover by Bob Larkin that plunges you straight into unease. A red-costumed figure falls inverted across the composition, wide-eyed with alarm, while below her two more terrified faces stare outward and a looming green reptilian creature lurks at the right — all rendered in Larkin's unsettling, painterly style that suits the tagline "…These Are the Unlikely Heroes!" perfectly. Inside, Frank Miller — handling the writing, art, and inking himself, with lettering by Jim Novak — delivers "The Mongoose Gambit," making this a compelling snapshot of Miller's early 1980s range beyond his better-known superhero work.