The Savage Sword of Conan #7

Boris Vallejo's painted cover for this 1975 Curtis/Marvel magazine is a visceral showcase of Conan at his most ferocious — the muscular Barbarian charges forward wielding an axe and a mace against a pack of hulking, beast-like creatures, while a chained woman looks on from behind him in the smoldering background. The composition crackles with raw energy, every figure rendered with Vallejo's characteristic anatomical intensity. Inside, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, and Alfredo Alcala deliver a novel-length thriller with the promising title "The Citadel at the Center of Time" — a setup that suggests Conan's adventures are about to stretch well beyond the usual boundaries of sword-and-sorcery.