Our Army at War #171

Joe Kubert's cover for this 1966 DC war comic is a striking clash of worlds: Sgt. Rock, in full combat gear and wielding a bayoneted rifle, squares off against a flamboyantly costumed, bare-chested figure brandishing a massive battle-axe — the self-styled "Mad Emperor" of the cover blurb. The dramatic, dynamic composition captures the two locked in fierce close-quarters combat, with the stakes spelled out right on the cover: Rock fought this adversary for the lives of a teenage army in the battle-shocker "The Sergeant Must Die!" Robert Kanigher and Kubert were at the helm of Our Army at War during some of its most inventive storytelling years, and this issue's wild premise — a WWII sergeant facing down a sword-and-sandal emperor — shows exactly why the series kept readers coming back.