Flashpoint: Batman Knight of Vengeance #1

Set against the blood-red atmosphere of DC's 2011 Flashpoint event, this first issue of a three-part miniseries teams Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso for a darker take on the Dark Knight. Dave Johnson's cover pulls three figures into an uneasy tableau — a looming, grim-jawed Batman, a heavyset man in a suit with an unsettling blue eye, and a trench-coated figure receding into the background — alongside a $100 Wayne Casino chip and a pair of dice that hint at a Gotham very different from the one we know. It's a moody, atmospheric opening chapter that promises something genuinely off-kilter lurking beneath the cape.