Marvel Tales #143

Spider-Man clings upside-down to a stone wall while the scaly, white-lab-coated Lizard looms opposite him in an equally inverted standoff — a dynamic composition that makes the whole world feel like it's tilted sideways with menace. The cover copy lays the stakes out plainly: this half-man, half-reptile threat aims at nothing less than global domination, and only the web-slinger stands in his way. Steve Ditko's cover art, both penciled and inked by the man himself, brings a wonderfully off-kilter energy to this 1982 reprint of "Face-to-Face with… the Lizard!" — a perfect entry point for anyone eager to experience what the banner proudly calls "The Marvel Age of Comics.