Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #1

Part of Marvel's 2007 event series exploring grief in the wake of a national hero's loss, this issue opens the five-part Fallen Son saga with a chapter titled "Denial." The cover by Leinil Francis Yu is quietly striking — a brooding, clawed Wolverine stands front and center, his expression grim and steeled, with Captain America's fractured shield looming large behind him against a pale, somber sky. Writers Jeph Loeb and J. Michael Straczynski set the emotional stage here, and Yu's cover perfectly captures the weight of mourning through one of Marvel's toughest characters.