Captain America #2

Ed Brubaker's acclaimed run continues with this second chapter of "Out of Time," featuring a cover by Steve Epting that sets a brooding, cinematic tone — a close, shadowed view of Captain America's masked face split down the middle by a blood-red light, with a chalk body outline traced on the ground below him. The image is stark and atmospheric, pairing the Star-Spangled Avenger's stoic visage with an unmistakable suggestion of crime and consequence. With art from Epting and Michael Lark and colors by Frank G. D'Armata bathing everything in deep reds and blacks, this 2005 issue signals that Brubaker's take on Cap is something decidedly grittier than what came before.