Iron Man #4

Iron Man streaks through a storm of fire and rubble on this cover by Sean Chen and Sean Parsons, his boot jets blazing as the armored, flame-wreathed menace Firebrand bears down on him with massive mechanized fists. The tagline "Firebrand Attacks!" says it all — this is a full-throttle collision between two powerhouses set against a backdrop of churning explosions and crumbling masonry. With Kurt Busiek at the helm and Sean Chen on interior art, issue #4's "Trouble in Paradise" looks like exactly the kind of visceral, kinetic Iron Man story fans were hungry for in 1998.