The Thing #5

The title "With Friends Like These..." says it all — this 1983 Marvel issue puts Ben Grimm right in the thick of a Madison Avenue brawl, with a red-clad figure clutching at him while an impact explosion erupts across his rocky chest. Cover artists Ron Wilson and Al Milgrom round out the action with She-Hulk throwing a punch and Spider-Man swinging in on a web line, making this feel like one of those wonderfully chaotic team-ups where the line between ally and opponent gets gloriously blurry. With John Byrne scripting and Ron Wilson on interior art, The Thing #5 is a solid snapshot of Marvel's early-'80s street-level energy at its most kinetic.