Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #148

The concluding chapter of "Bad" arrives in this December 2001 issue of Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and Barry Kitson's cover makes the stakes immediately clear — a hulking, red-haired figure hoists a battered, masked Batman by his cape with contemptuous ease, the Dark Knight's utility belt and cowl visible as he's lifted into a swirling gray void. With Doug Moench scripting and Kitson handling both pencils and inks, this three-part arc closes out with a raw, visceral energy that the cover conveys without a single word of dialogue.