The Defenders #14

The cosmic threat of Nebulon — billed right on the cover as "The Man Who Bought the Earth!" — looms large over this July 1974 issue, his massive face swirling dramatically through space as enormous alien hands close in on the globe below. The Hulk, Doctor Strange, and a third Defender strain against that crushing grip, with the inset portraits of the full team framed along the left edge hinting at just how much muscle Marvel's "non-team" is bringing to bear. Sal Buscema's cover, inked by himself, delivers a wonderfully grand sense of planetary stakes — and the tagline "He who buys a world may also destroy it!!" makes it hard to put this one back on the spinner rack.