The Savage Sword of Conan #32

Val Mayerik's painted cover for this 1978 installment pulls you straight into a churning nocturnal battle, with a muscular Conan wielding his sword overhead as grotesque ghouls close in from every direction — one leaping from horseback, others surging up through the water below, while a woman in a gold costume struggles to break free at his side. The featured story, "The Ghouls of Yanaidar," signals the kind of dark, monster-laden adventure that made The Savage Sword of Conan a standout among Marvel's black-and-white magazine titles of the era. With Roy Thomas writing and John Buscema on interior art, this issue delivers the grim sorcery and sword-swinging action the series did so well.