Batman: Sword of Azrael #3

The third chapter of this 1992 DC limited series arrives with one of the most viscerally arresting covers of its era — a battered, blue-skinned figure cradling a tattered, dripping Batman costume against a stark white background laced with red, the shredded cowl and scorched bat-symbol telling a grim story all on their own. Joe Quesada's pencils and Kevin Nowlan's inks give the image an almost tactile rawness, the inky black rags and vivid crimson splatters creating a scene that feels genuinely unsettling rather than merely dramatic. With Denny O'Neil steering the story in "Direct Action," Batman: Sword of Azrael #3 makes a compelling case that this four-part series had serious ambitions from the very start.