Fantastic Four #165

This December 1975 issue puts the Thing front and center in a mid-air clash against the blue-caped, blonde-haired Crusader, who demands release while Ben Grimm fires back with a grimly practical ultimatum — let go and go "splat all over the North Bronx," or hang on and fight it out. Cover pencils by Ron Wilson and inks by Joe Sinnott give the brawl a kinetic, hard-hitting energy, with the rest of the FF — Human Torch, Invisible Girl, and Mr. Fantastic — watching from their portrait insets above. The cover teases a "fighting-mad Thing battling for his very life," making this a must-read chapter in Roy Thomas and George Pérez's run on Marvel's first family.