The Savage Sword of Conan #167

Earl Norem's painted cover for this December 1989 issue says everything about the wild chaos waiting inside — a massively muscled Conan swings a battle-axe while a snarling bear rears up behind him and a roaring lion looms to the right, skulls scattered across the foreground. A tribal woman armed with a dagger and several other warriors share the dangerous ground with him, making this feel like survival against overwhelming odds on every front. "Spirit of the Beast," part two of A Hyborian Odyssey, with a creative team including Gerry Conway and artists Mike Docherty and Ernie Chan, promises exactly the sword-and-sorcery intensity this cover so vividly delivers.