The Savage Sword of Conan #42

Conan faces one of his most viscerally thrilling cover moments in this July 1979 issue, with Bob Larkin's painted artwork depicting the Barbarian locked in furious combat with a massive, snapping carnivorous plant — its jagged maw wide open as Conan drives his sword forward with raw ferocity. A woman ensnared in the writhing green tendrils of the devil-trees above adds desperate urgency to the scene, all set against a field of similarly monstrous flora and scattered skulls hinting at past victims. Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Tony DeZuniga, and Joe Rosen bring "The Devil-Tree of Gamburu" to life inside, making this one of the magazine format's most satisfyingly menacing sword-and-sorcery packages of 1979.