Cable #46

Part of the 1997 "Operation: Zero Tolerance" crossover, this issue puts Cable front and center in an intense standoff — the silver-haired mutant soldier lunges forward in his gold-and-blue armor, aiming an enormous, intricately detailed weapon whose transparent barrel reveals Bastion's face trapped within. The "Target: Bastion!" banner makes the stakes unmistakably clear, and the dynamic cover by penciler José Ladrönn and inker Scott Hanna crackles with momentum. With James Robinson scripting and Randy Green among the artists inside, it's a propulsive chapter in one of the X-Men line's most ambitious storylines of the decade.