Captain America #38

The Red Skull looms large over a sinister campaign poster on this 2008 issue's Steve Epting cover, his grotesque crimson face staring down from above the White House as propagandistic text urges readers to "Vote 3rd Wing for a New America." It's a chilling political image that perfectly captures the unsettling arc title — "The Man Who Bought America" — suggesting the Skull's ambitions have taken a decidedly democratic disguise. Ed Brubaker's run on this series was already turning heads, and this cover makes clear that the stakes have escalated well beyond the battlefield.