Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #2

The cover of this January 1973 issue — wait, let me note it's cover-dated January but published in 1972 — immediately sells the wild promise of Jack Kirby's post-apocalyptic vision: a massive, green-cloaked rat soldier levels a rifle at the bare-chested, blond Kamandi, while more armed rat figures swarm in the background against the churning spectacle of a submerged, flood-swept New York City. Kirby's pencils, inked by Mike Royer, crackle with that unmistakable energy, staging the confrontation against a blazing red sky with ruins and a colossal whirlpool of seawater framing the chaos. "The Year of the Rat!" promises exactly the kind of strange, thrilling world the cover delivers — humanity humbled, giant rats in charge, and one determined boy caught in the middle of it all.