Elektra: Assassin #3

The cover by Bill Sienkiewicz says everything you need to know about the tone of this third chapter in the eight-issue limited series: a bloodied Elektra reclines defiantly in the foreground, sai in hand, while a grim assembly of armed S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives loom behind her alongside what the glowing marquee announces as the "S.H.I.E.L.D. Recon Squad Local 317 Annual Safari and Death Hunt." Sienkiewicz's painterly, atmospheric style transforms what could be a straightforward spy thriller into something far more unsettling and cinematic — the muted greens and shadows of the hunters contrasting sharply with Elektra's vivid pink, blood-spattered costume. Frank Miller and Sienkiewicz were doing something genuinely adventurous with this series in 1986, and this issue's cover alone makes a compelling case for diving in.