Daredevil #31

Few covers communicate genuine dread quite like this one — Daredevil, chained and locked in a guillotine's lunette, stares down a waiting basket while a jester-costumed villain presides from a throne above alongside two other figures, all framed by an ominous pair of comedy-and-tragedy masks looming in the background. Chris Samnee's artwork (earning him an Eisner Award for Best Penciler/Inker that year) delivers a composition that feels theatrical and merciless in equal measure. Mark Waid, Samnee, and colorist Javier Rodríguez were clearly firing on all cylinders with this 2013 run, and issue #31 makes a compelling case for why.