Conan the Barbarian #25

From 1973, this issue of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian promises sorcerous mayhem in "The Murderous Mirrors of Kharam-Akkad." The cover — penciled and inked by Gil Kane and Ralph Reese — pulls no punches: a snarling Conan battles crimson serpentine tentacles that coil around him and a golden-haired woman at his feet, while a robed figure lurks in the background and grotesque demon-idol statues leer from the right. It's a vivid, kinetically charged image that captures everything readers loved about Roy Thomas and John Buscema's sword-and-sorcery era at its most thrillingly intense.