The Avengers #177

The cover of this November 1978 issue — drawn by Dave Cockrum and inked by Terry Austin — is a striking tableau of fallen Avengers scattered across a wrecked interior: Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, and others lie strewn across the floor and staircase while a determined blond man in a white shirt channels a blazing energy blast downward onto a purple-clad figure. The ominous title "…These Who Lay Dying!" says everything about the desperate stakes on display. With Jim Shooter writing and Dave Wenzel on interior art, this is Earth's Mightiest Heroes at a genuinely harrowing low point — a compelling snapshot of late-'70s Marvel storytelling at its most dramatic.