Dark Star

Twenty years into a mission to destroy unstable planets, the scoutship Dark Star's four surviving crewmen are bored beyond relief, and then Bomb #20 is armed. Ballantine's front cover lines it up behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Poseidon Adventure. The film was John Carpenter's first feature; Dan O'Bannon co-wrote it, starred in it and did the special effects. Robert Grossman drew the cover.