Elektra: Assassin #4

The fourth chapter of this eight-issue Epic Comics limited series arrives with a cover by Bill Sienkiewicz that is equal parts romantic and ruthless — Elektra in her signature red costume embraces a dark-haired man in a white suit, both surrounded by a heart-shaped frame scattered with roses, while armed cherubs carrying machine guns and blades look on with gleeful menace. That collision of Valentine's Day imagery with cold-blooded firepower perfectly captures the sardonic tension Frank Miller and Sienkiewicz brought to this 1986 series. If the story title "Young Love" tells you anything, it's that sentiment here comes loaded.