Avengers: The Initiative #35

Bearing an Avengers flag aloft over a battle-scarred landscape, a fierce red-haired warrior woman stands front and center on David Yardin's striking cover, flanked by two powerful male figures as a cityscape smolders in the fiery orange distance. This is the conclusion of "The Hammer Falls" arc, brought to life by the creative team of Christos N. Gage, Jorge Molina, Andrew Hennessy, and Edgar Delgado — a fittingly grand finale chapter tied to Marvel's sweeping Siege event. If you've been following the Initiative through its toughest trials, this 2010 issue looks like exactly the kind of defiant, hard-won moment the series has been building toward.