Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #8

Dark Horse's continuation of Joss Whedon's canonical Season Eight finds Buffy in a genuinely tense spot — Jo Chen's painted cover captures her crouched over a figure submerged beneath rippling water, her fists clenched and expression fierce, the bubbles rising from below adding a quiet urgency to the image. It's a striking, intimate composition that feels more like a still from a film than a comic book cover, which is very much Chen's gift. With Brian K. Vaughan on scripting duties for "No Future For You Part Three," this 2007 installment keeps the season's momentum building in compelling fashion.