Marvel Tales #56

This 1974 reprint series puts Spider-Man front and center in a genuinely somber mood — the cover by John Romita shows a dejected, head-in-hands Spider-Man standing over a fallen figure on the floor, while a shadowy costumed villain looms ominously through a barred window against a yellow-lit cityscape. The stark "Death Without Warning!" caption sets a weight to the scene that feels unusually heavy for a superhero cover, suggesting real stakes for our wall-crawler. With Stan Lee writing and art from John Romita and Jim Mooney, Marvel Tales #56 is a fine way to revisit a dramatic chapter in Spider-Man's history.