Black Widow #12

Natasha Romanoff looks cornered but far from beaten on Chris Samnee's moody cover for Black Widow #12 — battered, waist-deep in water, she grips a rope with one hand and levels a pistol directly at the viewer with the other. The dimly lit industrial backdrop, streaked in crimson by Matthew Wilson's coloring, gives the whole image a tense, almost noir quality that suits Marvel's most accomplished spy perfectly. It's a fittingly intense cap to the Samnee and Mark Waid run's final stretch.