Thor #251

This September 1976 issue sets up a genuinely dire scenario right on its cover: Thor is overwhelmed and staggering, clutched by a swarm of grasping undead hands, while Hela — the Dark Goddess of Death herself, resplendent in her green-and-gold costume — towers over him and declares his life forfeit for daring to invade Valhalla. The cover title "If This Be Death!" says it all, and Jack Kirby's pencils, inked by Joe Sinnott, give the scene a visceral, mythic weight that perfectly suits the stakes. Inside, writer Len Wein and artists John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga carry that tension forward in "To Hela and Back," making this a thoroughly satisfying chapter of Thor's Bronze Age adventures.