Kull, the Conqueror #5

Marie and John Severin's cover for this November 1972 issue puts Kull front and center aboard a ship's deck, crowned and red-caped, sword and shield in hand as arrows fly and enemy warriors swarm the vessel all around him — the speech bubbles say it all: "We sail alone against the savage hordes" and "And now comes death! But here we stand… and here we die!" The tagline "Blade! The Blood! The Battle!" promises that Gerry Conway's story "A Kingdom by the Sea!" delivers exactly the kind of desperate, outnumbered seafaring clash this cover so vividly sets up. It's a striking snapshot of Kull at his most defiant, and a fine example of early-'70s Marvel sword-and-sorcery at full throttle.