Azrael #17

Azrael stands triumphant atop a rocky outcropping, planting a Crusader's banner — a red cross blazing against flowing white cloth — beneath a vast, luminous moon, while a group of robed, red-crossed figures looms in the shadows below. The cover by Guillem March crackles with a sense of crusading conviction and an almost mythic grandeur that suits the story's title, "The Tears of God, Part One: Shock and Awe," perfectly. Written by David Hine with interior art by Cliff Richards, this April 2011 installment of DC's Batman-line series promises a chapter that's as visually arresting as it is dramatically charged.