The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #17

The "Book of the Dead Deluxe Edition" continues with this 1987 reference volume dedicated to fallen Marvel characters, and the cover by Keith Pollard and Josef Rubinstein sets a fittingly eerie tone — a crowd of deceased heroes and villains rising from a graveyard, with a gold-and-magenta-costumed figure bearing a skull-emblazoned belt front and center, flanked by cloaked figures, a white-haired older woman, and a host of others emerging from the shadowy background. Mark Gruenwald's exhaustive documentation of the Marvel Universe's departed is a treat for any fan who wants the full story on characters no longer walking among the living. It's a genuinely unique corner of comics publishing — part encyclopedia, part memorial — and issue #17 carries on that tradition with quiet confidence.