Batman Adventures #13

The Penguin takes center stage on this 2004 Batman Adventures cover, his smug grin filling the frame as a gloved fist — Batman's, unmistakably — slams him hard against a crumbling brick wall. The title "A Bird in the Hand…" says everything about the dynamic at play, and Kelsey Shannon's clean, animated-style linework captures that tension with real punch. With Dan Slott writing and Rick Burchett on interior art, this is the kind of sharp, character-driven superhero comics that made this series such a treat.