Brightest Day #16

Beneath the waves, tension runs deep — Brightest Day #16 pits Aquaman against Aqualad in an underwater clash that dominates this striking 2011 DC release. Gary Frank's cover captures the two atlantean combatants mid-struggle, Aquaman wielding his trident above while a defiant Aqualad pushes back with crackling water energy below, coral formations framing the fight behind them. With Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi at the helm and a creative team that includes Ivan Reis, Scott Clark, and Joe Prado on interiors, "Short Fuse" looks like exactly the kind of charged, character-driven confrontation that made Brightest Day one of DC's most compelling events of its era.