The Spectacular Spider-Man #178

Kicking off "The Child Within" six-part saga, this 1991 issue opens with a striking Sal Buscema cover that drops Spider-Man into the very grave where Kraven's Last Hunt ended — and the tagline makes clear that Vermin's hunt is just beginning. The cover's moody composition pits a small, vulnerable Spider-Man against the looming, skull-like shadows of that notorious burial site, capturing a real sense of dread without a word of interior story needed. J. M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema were clearly building toward something unsettling, and this first chapter sets the atmosphere perfectly.