Adventures of Superman #537

The "Freak Show!" banner says it all — this August 1996 issue puts Superman in a genuinely harrowing spot, flanked on either side by two enormous, snarling monsters: a hulking brown beast and a horned red demon, both closing in with teeth bared and claws raised. The Man of Steel, cape billowing, looks to be crying out under the pressure of the two creatures looming over him, making for one of the more viscerally tense cover images of the mid-'90s Superman line. Stuart Immonen and José Marzán Jr. bring real energy and menace to the composition, setting the stage for Karl Kesel's "Creatures on the Loose!