Captain America #617

From the team of Brubaker, Guice, Samnee, and Deodato comes this 2011 chapter of "Gulag Part 2," and Marko Djurdjević's cover immediately sets a tense, politically charged tone. A determined figure in a star-emblazoned blue suit plants himself atop rubble, gripping an American flag and a pistol, while a brooding, helmeted Captain America face looms large in the shadowy background — the juxtaposition of the two figures suggesting divided legacies and high stakes. It's a striking, painterly composition that makes this issue hard to put back on the shelf.