Azrael: Agent of the Bat #98

The bold "Patricide!" cover blurb sets a tense, personal tone for this March 2003 installment, with Azrael crouching low in his crimson-and-gold costume, sword drawn and crackling with electric-blue energy as a gauntleted fist flies toward him from the swirling chaos above. Mike Zeck's pencils and Jerry Ordway's inks give the composition real kinetic charge — the Saint's body language reads equal parts defiance and controlled fury. Denny O'Neil and Sergio Cariello bring their "Combat!" story to what promises to be one of the more emotionally charged chapters in the series' final stretch.