Conan the Barbarian #1

Marvel brought Conan back to its lineup in 1997 with this collector's first issue, and Claudio Castellini's cover makes an immediate statement — a massively muscled Conan dominates the frame, chains wrapped around his fists, a broad battle-axe at his side, hair whipping wild against a fiery orange sky, while a smaller inset image in the corner echoes the ferocity. Roland Green scripts the interior adventure, "Conan and the Stalker of the Woods," with Castellini's artwork carried through by a full team of inkers and colored by John Kalisz. The cover's bold tagline — "He's back… with a vengeance!" — sets the tone perfectly for this revival of Robert E. Howard's legendary Cimmerian.