Omega the Unknown #1

Marvel's 1976 launch of Omega the Unknown announces itself with a cover that crackles with urgency: a blue-and-red-costumed hero hurls an energy blast at a hulking, star-studded robotic assassin while a frightened young boy — identified on the cover as 12-year-old James-Michael Starling — cowers on a hospital bed below. The cover copy frames Omega as the last survivor of an alien world, alone against a "horde of steel assassins," and tantalizes readers with the mysterious link between this silent stranger and the boy. Penciled by Ed Hannigan and inked by Joe Sinnott, the image sets a tone that's equal parts science-fiction menace and quiet human mystery — a genuinely distinctive corner of the Marvel universe.