Batman: Gotham Adventures #26

Few images capture the tension of a guardian's duty quite like this one: Batman crouches on a Gotham rooftop beneath a blood-red moon, sheltering a tiny infant in the crook of his arm while armed figures close in from every direction. The cover by Rick Burchett and Terry Beatty uses the animated series' clean, expressive style to make the stakes feel immediate — the Dark Knight's protective stance against that encircling threat is quietly arresting. Scott Peterson, Tim Levins, and Terry Beatty deliver "In Arms," a July 2000 issue that promises exactly the kind of street-level tension Batman: Gotham Adventures did so well.