Adventures of Superman #630

The cover of this September 2004 issue delivers a quietly unsettling visual hook: Superman himself is being erased by an enormous pencil, his lower half already rubbed away against a stark white background, while he fixes the viewer with a wary, steel-eyed stare. It's a striking meta-image that plays perfectly off the story title "Rubbed Out!" and sets an intriguing tone for "Battery, Part Four: Villain Interruptus." Cover art by Gene Ha makes the most of the concept, rendering the Man of Steel with muscular confidence even as his existence is literally being undone around him.