Astonishing X-Men #5

Three mutant faces loom large against a vivid pink-red sky while a glowing, armored figure brandishes a sword and shield amid a seething mass of black spider-like creatures below — it's a striking image that sets a genuinely tense tone for "Life of X Part Five." Writer Charles Soule and artist Ramón Rosanas bring a cool, atmospheric confidence to this fifth chapter, with Nolan Woodard's color work doing a lot of heavy lifting in separating the ethereal blue luminescence of that armored figure from the darkness crawling beneath it. If the arc has been building toward something unsettling, this cover suggests the team is right in the thick of it.