Mystery in Space #82

Adam Strange stands at the center of this striking 1963 DC cover, torn between twin catastrophes as a mushroom cloud engulfs Earth on his left and a solar beam scorches the alien cityscape of Rann on his right. His cover caption says it all: only one world can be saved, and the choice falls entirely on him. With Carmine Infantino's pencils and Murphy Anderson's inks bringing that anguished dilemma to vivid life, Mystery in Space #82 promises the kind of interplanetary stakes that made this series a standout of early-'60s science-fiction comics.