Batman: The 12 Cent Adventure #1

This 2004 DC one-shot serves as the entry point to the sweeping "War Games" crossover, offered at a remarkable twelve-cent cover price that made it easy for any reader to jump on board. Cameron Stewart's cover sets the tone perfectly: Batman stands resolute on a rooftop ledge, fist raised, while below him a group of armed figures — guns and blades in hand — close in from the shadows, with a crowd of silhouetted onlookers gathered on a building in the distance. Written by Devin Grayson with interior art by Ramón Bachs and inks by Raúl Fernández and Rodney Ramos, this is a confident, atmospheric kickoff to one of Gotham's most intense gang-war storylines of the era.