Dreadstar #24

This April 1986 entry in Epic Comics' Dreadstar series carries a cover — penciled and inked by Jim Starlin — that radiates genuine menace: a massive, bald-headed figure in yellow and black looms over a red-haired woman who recoils in a burst of explosive energy, her body arched and helpless against his grip, while a crowd of anguished, distorted faces fills the eerie pink background. The story title "Violation!" makes the confrontation on that cover feel all the more charged and unsettling. With Starlin writing and the interior art handled by Jim Sherman, this is mid-'80s science-fantasy storytelling at its most visually striking.