Batman: Shadow of the Bat #74

Part of the sprawling 1998 "Cataclysm" crossover, this issue finds Batman straining with everything he has to hold back collapsing debris while a crowd of desperate, terrified Gothamites scrambles to safety beneath him. Glen Orbik's painted cover work is striking — warm amber tones and raw urgency give the scene a gritty, almost cinematic weight. With Alan Grant writing and Mark Buckingham on interior art, this chapter of Gotham's earthquake crisis promises the kind of ground-level human drama that made "Cataclysm" one of DC's most ambitious Batman events of the decade.