The Defenders #12

The cover of The Defenders #12 (February 1974) makes a bold promise right on its face: "The Titan Strikes Again — and not even the Hulk can stop him!" John Romita's cover art delivers on that tension immediately, with a snarling Hulk unleashing a massive punch against a hulking, glowing beast-like Titan, while behind them Doctor Strange and a blonde female figure are bound in chains, rendered helpless. With Len Wein writing and Sal Buscema on interior art, this early chapter of Marvel's "non-team" series captures exactly the kind of desperate, against-the-odds energy that made the Defenders such a compelling corner of the 1974 Marvel universe.