Avengers: The Initiative #6

This striking cover by Steve Uy sets a tense, brooding tone for "Persons of Interest" — a muscular, bald figure slumps against a wall, his torn shirt marked with jagged red symbols that match the blood smeared behind him, his helmet resting in his lap as if the fight has already taken its toll. Dan Slott and Uy's 2007 series continues to push the Initiative's recruits into genuinely uncomfortable territory, and this image makes clear that the program's training ground carries real consequences. A compelling, sobering issue for anyone following Marvel's post-Civil War landscape.