Doctor Strange #171

Dan Adkins delivers a visually arresting cover for this 1968 Marvel issue, with Doctor Strange — blue-robed and grimly determined, magical energy blazing from both hands — straining against the crushing grip of a massive, flame-wreathed demonic entity looming above him. Jagged teal lightning bolts tear across a cracked golden ground, amplifying the sense that the Master of the Mystic Arts is channeling every ounce of his power just to hold his own. With Roy Thomas writing and Tom Palmer on art, "In the Shadow of... Death!" promises exactly the kind of supernatural tension that made this era of Strange's solo title so compelling.