Batman #26

Part three of "Zero Year: Dark City" arrives with one of the most arresting covers of 2014 — Greg Capullo renders a lone Batman perched atop a jagged throne of enormous skeletal fingers clawing up from the earth, the darkened Gotham skyline blazing orange and pink behind him. The image feels both triumphant and deeply unsettling, suggesting a city built on something rotten beneath the surface. Scott Snyder and Capullo's New 52 Batman run is in full stride here, and this issue promises the kind of brooding, atmospheric storytelling the creative team delivers so well.