Action Comics #546

Superman charges front and center on this August 1983 cover, flanked by an enormous assembled cast as the banner promises a "Showdown!" — with the Justice League of America and the New Teen Titans both billing as special guest stars, you know the stakes are anything but small. Gil Kane's cover art sweeps across the image in a surge of heroes: Starfire blazes above with flame-red hair, a cloaked female figure soars to the left, Wonder Woman and Cyborg are visible in the crowd, and a wave of other costumed heroes — including what appears to be the Flash and Robin — pour forward through smoke and chaos. It's a wonderfully crowded, kinetic composition that makes the promise of "Showdown!" feel entirely earned.