The Sensational Spider-Man #20

The stakes don't get much higher than the Staff of Horus — an artifact the cover warns can destroy the world — and Spider-Man is fighting tooth and nail to keep it out of the wrong hands. Rich Case's cover puts the web-slinger in a fierce mid-air struggle with a dark-haired woman in black over the ornate, energy-crackling staff, while panicked bystanders scatter on the street behind them. With Todd DeZago and Rich Case steering the story in October 1997, this is one of those issues where the cover alone makes it very hard to put back on the shelf.