Hercules #4

The concluding issue of this 1982 Marvel limited series delivers a cover that says it all — Hercules, drenched and battered, is pinned beneath the massive magenta machinery of a towering robotic figure as a blinding energy beam bears down on him. Bob Layton's cover art captures the Lion of Olympus at his most desperate, gold wristbands and all, straining against overwhelming mechanical force with both hands still reaching. With a story title like "–Not Just Another Galactus Story!" the series wraps up with its tongue firmly in cheek and its stakes turned up to eleven.