The Savage Sword of Conan #161

Conan stands battle-ready with a great axe raised and a bloodied sword in hand, backed by a red-haired female warrior drawing her bow — and beneath them, an enormous spider-creature lurks in a tangle of dark, grasping branches. Ovi Hondru's cover art captures the brooding, atmospheric menace of the Hyborian Age beautifully, with a smaller spider inset in the corner hinting at even more eight-legged dread. "Call of the Howling Shadows," rendered by the interior team of writer John Arcudi and artist-inker Ernie Chan, promises exactly the kind of sword-and-sorcery tension this 1989 Marvel magazine format does so well.