Conan the Barbarian #81

The cover promises the ultimate showdown as Conan charges sword-raised through a chaotic melee of fallen and fighting warriors, with a massive, menacing red demonic face looming out of the clouds beside the ominous boast — "Slay him! If the Barbarian falls… the world is ours!" John Buscema's pencils and Ernie Chan's inks give the whole scene a raw, kinetic energy that made Marvel's 1977 sword-and-sorcery line genuinely thrilling. With Roy Thomas writing and Howard Chaykin among the interior artists, "The Final Battle for the Awesome Eye of the Serpent" looks like exactly the high-stakes conclusion the arc deserves.