Batman: Shadow of the Bat #47

The concluding chapter of "The Shadow Falls Upon Cornelius Stirk" arrives in this February 1996 issue, with a cover by Brian Stelfreeze that wastes no time setting a desperate mood. Batman lies sprawled on the ground, cape spread beneath him, while a group of menacing figures — including a gun-wielding man looming directly overhead — close in around him. It's a tense, atmospheric composition bathed in deep blues and shadows, perfectly suited to a series that has always put the Dark Knight at his most vulnerable.