Professor Xavier and the X-Men #17

Cyclops strides forward in his classic yellow-and-blue uniform on this March 1997 cover, bursting through a shattered purple barrier with quiet intensity — Jim Calafiore's pencils and Mark McKenna's inks giving the scene a clean, kinetic energy. Titled "Man and Machine," issue #17 of Professor Xavier and the X-Men promises a story that puts Scott Summers front and center in what looks like a collision between human will and something far more mechanical. At just 99 cents, it's a satisfying slice of mid-nineties Marvel storytelling from writer Jorge González and artist Chris Batista.