Avengers Academy #24

Part of Marvel's 2012 "Shattered Heroes" banner, Avengers Academy #24 puts a bold promise right on the cover: "Coeds vs. Campus Creature!" The image delivers — a determined young woman in a pink-and-silver costume squares off against a pale, clawed figure with glowing green eyes, both locked in tense, dynamic confrontation. Rodin Esquejo's cover work gives the pairing a genuinely unsettling energy, and with Christos Gage writing and Tom Grummett on interior art, this is a series that earned its Ain't It Cool News praise for good reason.