Batman Incorporated #5

Batman stands with his back to us, cloaked and broad-shouldered, framed by a towering iron gate as an entire city burns behind him and a seething crowd closes in from the flames — it's a cover by Chris Burnham that radiates both dread and defiance in equal measure. Grant Morrison and Burnham's New 52 run on Batman Incorporated had already proven itself one of 2013's most ambitious superhero series, and this fifth issue, titled "Asylum," looks to push that tension further. If this cover is any indication, Batman Inc. is about to face something far larger — and far more chaotic — than a single adversary.