Birds of Prey #85

The cover by Adriana Melo and Will Conrad delivers an urgent tableau: a wide-eyed Black Canary in uniform, the masked figure of the Phantom Lady, and a stoic Superman all lean over a stricken, glowing figure whose body pulses with unsettling green circuitry — the tagline "System Failure Imminent" says it all. Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey was consistently one of DC's sharpest team books, and this 2005 issue pairs her sharp scripting with the combined linework of Joe Bennett, Eddy Barrows, Jack Jadson, and Robin Riggs. If you enjoy superhero drama that mixes street-level grit with bigger DC universe stakes, issue #85 looks like a compelling place to dive in.