Conan the Barbarian #5

Subtitled "The Claws of the Tigress" right on the cover, this May 1971 Marvel issue puts Conan in a dire spot — crouched low on stone steps with a flaming weapon at his feet while a snarling, leaping tiger bears down on him, and a fierce red-clad woman lunges from above in what looks like a dungeon chamber lit by a wall torch. Barry Windsor-Smith's cover linework crackles with kinetic energy, capturing that essential Hyborian tension between blade, beast, and sorcery. With Roy Thomas scripting and Smith also handling the interior art, Conan the Barbarian #5 is a vivid reminder of why this series so quickly earned its reputation as sword-and-sorcery storytelling at its most visceral.