Batman #414

The cover of Batman #414 — part of the "New Adventures" era — sets an urgent, street-level tone: a terrified young blonde woman, tears streaming, is cornered against a brick wall while an enormous threatening hand reaches toward her from the left. Looming above in a diagonal slash of blue light is Batman himself, jaw set and eyes fierce, clearly closing in on the scene. Jim Aparo's clean, forceful linework gives the whole composition a tense energy that matches the issue's story title, "Victims!" — a promise that this December 1987 chapter from Starlin, Aparo, and DeCarlo takes Gotham's human cost seriously.