The Spectacular Spider-Man #5

Dave Cockrum's cover for this April 1977 issue says it all with dramatic economy: Spider-Man hangs suspended high above the Manhattan skyline, caught squarely between the winged menace of the Vulture — clawing at him from the right — and a weaponized figure in orange armor (the Hitman) taking aim from a steel girder to the left. The story title "Spider-Kill!" blazes from the lower corner, making the wall-crawler's predicament feel genuinely precarious. Archie Goodwin scripts and Sal Buscema pencils the interior, promising the kind of kinetic, character-driven Marvel storytelling that made Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man such a welcome companion title in 1977.