Spider-Woman #42

From high above a sprawling cityscape, Spider-Woman soars in her red-and-yellow costume, firing a venom blast as she confronts a massive, jagged-toothed mechanical creature and a hulking armored figure — while a wide-eyed man in a dark hat looks on from below, caught in the chaos. This February 1982 issue of Marvel's Spider-Woman promises the kind of high-altitude, multi-threat tension that the series delivered so well in its final stretch, with Chris Claremont's script ("The Judas Man") and Steve Leialoha's art combining for a genuinely compelling chapter. The vertiginous, bird's-eye perspective on the cover alone makes it easy to see why this run still resonates with fans of early-'80s Marvel storytelling.