Conan the Barbarian #223

Issue #223 brings "The Wheel of Life and Death" — and Gary Kwapisz's cover sets the mood perfectly, placing a bare-chested, sword-brandishing Conan against a blood-red moon ringed by scattered skulls, skeletal remains, and a broken wooden wheel. Looming over the Cimmerian's shoulder is an enormous skull, its hollow eyes adding an ominous, supernatural weight to the scene. It's a fittingly grim composition from the 1989 Marvel run, with the creative team of Michael Fleisher, Alfredo Alcala, George Roussos, and Jim Novak rounding out what promises to be a dark chapter in Conan's adventures.