Countdown #23

Issue #23 of DC's Countdown to Final Crisis puts the imp from the Fifth Dimension front and center in a deeply unsettling light — Mr. Mxyzptlk is bound in heavy chains, battered and grimacing against a backdrop of roaring flames, while a dark, glowering figure in a black Superman costume looms ominously behind him. The cover tagline "Mr. Mxyzptlk… Spills His Guts!" suggests the usually mischievous trickster is no longer holding anything back. J. G. Jones's cover art gives the whole scene a tense, visceral energy that makes this chapter of the road to Final Crisis hard to pass up.