Sgt. Rock #359

Three bold panels by Joe Kubert say everything you need to know: Sgt. Rock faces down a medal-decorated Iron Major, with "Surrender!" shouted three times across the cover — each time answered by Rock's defiant fists rather than compliance. The sequence builds to a wounded soldier on the ground gasping that he can't hear the Major, a gut-punch image that sets the stakes for Robert Kanigher's story "Nobody Surrenders" with striking economy. DC's December 1981 lineup had no shortage of war titles, but this cover makes a convincing case that Sgt. Rock belonged at the top of the pile.