Ultimate Spider-Man #37

Venom dominates this 2003 Marvel installment with an unsettling, muscular presence — that enormous maw, the spider-symbol gleaming white across a pitch-black symbiote body, and a crimson tongue lashing the air leave little doubt that Peter Parker's world is in serious trouble. Mark Bagley's cover art captures the creature mid-lunge against a shadowy urban backdrop, all coiled threat and raw energy. Titled "Still," with Brian Michael Bendis at the helm and Bagley and Art Thibert handling the interior line work, this chapter of Ultimate Spider-Man delivers exactly the kind of tension its cover promises.