Batman and Robin #17

Part of DC's Batman Incorporated era, this 2011 issue kicks off "The Sum of Her Parts" with a cover by Guillem March that pulls no punches: Batman lunges straight at the viewer, surrounded on all sides by a snarling mob of grey-suited, wild-eyed attackers, while Robin battles more of the same frenzied figures in the crimson background above. The sheer press of bodies closing in from every direction gives the image a genuine sense of being overwhelmed, setting an urgent, unsettling tone for this three-part story. Writer Paul Cornell teams with artist Scott McDaniel and inker Rob Hunter for what promises to be a dark and densely packed chapter in the Dynamic Duo's ongoing adventures.