The Savage Sword of Conan #139

Joe Jusko's painted cover for this 1987 Marvel black-and-white magazine says everything you need to know about the Cimmerian's intensity — Conan looms in extreme close-up, both fists clenched around a bloodied sword with an ornate skull-pommel, his dark eyes fixed on something just beyond the reader with barely contained ferocity. It's a visceral, almost uncomfortably close portrait that pulls you right into the world of "The Garden of Blood," the story waiting inside courtesy of writer Charles Dixon and artist Gary Kwapisz. If you enjoy your sword-and-sorcery raw and uncompromising, issue #139 delivers that mood from the very first glance.