Astonishing X-Men #2

The cover of this 1999 Marvel series delivers immediate tension: a blue-skinned Archangel — white-winged and visibly strained — is locked in a crushing grip by a massive armored figure in blue and red, and the blurb leaves nothing to the imagination with "Archangel — in the Grip of Death!" Cover pencils by Brandon Peterson and inks by Dan Panosian give the struggle a kinetic, dynamic energy that leaps right off the page. With "The Saga That Changes Everything" continuing into issue #2, Astonishing X-Men is clearly not holding back.