Batgirls #5

A towering, horned villain dominates this cover by Jorge Corona and Sarah Stern, looming over a Gotham City skyline as a hooded figure perches on what appears to be a cape or wing, while Batgirl stands watchful below — and a sharp-eyed red-haired woman in glasses looks directly at us from the upper left, practically daring trouble to find her. The striking orange-and-black palette gives the whole composition an urgent, almost theatrical tension that suits the penultimate chapter of Cloonan and Conrad's six-part "One Way or Another." With so many players in frame and the story's final act just one issue away, issue #5 feels like the moment the pieces are all on the board.