Marvel Team-Up #138

The cover of this February 1984 issue poses a genuinely intriguing question — "Spider-Man and the Sandman… as friends or foes?" — and the chaotic warehouse brawl depicted makes it hard to say. Spider-Man crouches amid flames and chains in the foreground while the sandy-fisted Sandman looms large above, both seemingly caught up in a melee involving a glowing-fisted brawler, fleeing men in suits, and assorted thugs — with the cover tagline promising Spidey will find out "the hard way." Al Milgrom's cover work captures the kinetic energy of an uneasy alliance beautifully, and "Starting Over!" sounds like exactly the kind of morally complicated team-up that made Marvel Team-Up such a consistently entertaining series.