Spider-Man: Chapter One #1

Spider-Man: Chapter One launched in December 1998 with a cover by John Byrne that immediately sets the tone — a fully suited Spider-Man bursts across a moonlit New York skyline, dramatically hoisting a hapless Peter Parker (in civilian clothes) as speech bubbles contrast the "loser" everybody laughs at with the Amazing Spider-Man nobody will mock. The visual duality of Peter and his alter ego sharing the same cover is a clever, disarming hook, and Byrne's confident linework gives the whole thing a dynamic, almost kinetic energy. With an "Important Message About Spidey's Origin" also promised inside, this first issue — written, drawn, inked, and lettered entirely by Byrne, with colors by John Kalisz — is a compelling reimagining from the ground up.