Captain America and Bucky #624

The hammer-and-sickle looms large on this striking 2012 cover by Ed McGuinness, as Bucky — in his black Winter Soldier gear, metal arm gleaming with its red star — stands back-to-back with a red-haired, black-suited Black Widow, both armed and radiating cold-war tension. The pairing of these two Soviet-trained operatives against that bold crimson backdrop makes for one of the more visually charged covers in this run. With Brubaker and Andreyko writing and Chris Samnee on interior art, issue #624 looks to deliver the espionage-edged storytelling this title does so well.