Conan the Barbarian #97

The cover of this April 1979 Marvel issue promises a fierce finale, teasing Conan's "final battle with the Beast-King" in a chaotic stone-chamber scene rendered by John Buscema and Ernie Chan. Conan himself appears in the upper corner poised for combat, while the foreground erupts with a dark-haired warrior woman brandishing a dagger, a powerful blue-helmeted figure raising a blade, a fallen figure tangled in chains, and a leopard and serpent lurking ominously at the bottom. It's a densely packed, kinetic composition — exactly the kind of pulpy, high-stakes sword-and-sorcery energy that made Conan the Barbarian one of Marvel's most compelling ongoing series of the 1970s.