Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2

The penultimate chapter of this three-part Final Crisis tie-in brings the tension to a fever pitch, with Scott Kolins's cover delivering a striking close-up of a gauntleted fist gripping a blazing Heat Wave-style weapon against a blood-red backdrop — fire and fury rendered with raw, kinetic energy. Geoff Johns and Kolins make a strong creative pairing for this kind of villain-centric drama, and the cover's intense focus on that burning weapon makes it clear the Rogues are done playing by anyone else's rules. If you've been following this 2008 miniseries, issue two is where the stakes feel unmistakably real.