Batgirl #8

From the New 52 comes Batgirl #8, where Barbara Gordon is caught in a crackling burst of energy, her red hair streaming as she braces against a figure looming above her — the sinister, horned villain Grotesque, suited and menacing, wielding what appears to be an electrified weapon. The tagline "To Die at the Hands of… Grotesque" sets a genuinely tense mood, and the dynamic cover by penciler Ardian Syaf and inker Vicente Cifuentes crackles with urgency. Writer Gail Simone's "No Darker Shadow" promises the kind of high-stakes confrontation that made this New 52 run a compelling chapter for Batgirl fans in 2012.