The Incredible Hulk #286

From the crumbling brick alley on this August 1983 cover, Brent Anderson stages a genuinely tense standoff: the Hulk recoils from a blinding energy blast fired point-blank by a blue-suited armored figure, while a massive, cold-eyed alien or robotic face looms ominously through a glowing portal in the shattered wall behind them. With Harlan Ellison and Bill Mantlo sharing writing duties alongside the interior art of Sal Buscema, issue #286 promises an unusually charged chapter in the green goliath's saga. The story is simply titled "Hero" — and judging by the punishment the Hulk is absorbing on this cover, earning that title won't come easy.