Conan the Barbarian #14

Barry Smith's cover for this March 1972 issue sets up one of sword-and-sorcery's most tantalizing crossovers: a muscular Conan squares off against Elric of Melniboné atop a rocky precipice, swords raised, while a red-caped figure looms above and a distressed woman clings to the cliff's edge below. The tagline "A Sword Called… Stormbringer!" makes clear that Michael Moorcock's cursed black blade has found its way into the Hyborian Age, promising the kind of pulp-fantasy collision that Roy Thomas and Moorcock co-wrote together. Smith's linework crackles with kinetic energy — a remarkable 1972 pairing of two genre giants on the same page.