Conan the Barbarian #48

Gil Kane and Dick Giordano deliver a thunderous cover for this March 1975 issue, depicting Conan on horseback charging sword-aloft through a chaotic melee, while an enormous skull-faced specter looms ominously in the background. The banner promises "The Return of Red Sonja!" alongside the story "The Rats Dance at Ravengard!" — a pairing that signals both supernatural dread and the kind of fierce swordplay Roy Thomas and John Buscema were perfecting during this era. At a quarter cover price, this is Hyborian Age adventure firing on all cylinders.