Gotham Underground #8

The penultimate chapter of this nine-part DC miniseries arrives with a cover that puts a hooded, purple-cloaked figure — the Penguin's enforcer Tobias Whale, or perhaps a mystery villain — front and center, crouching aggressively while a masked, chain-wielding figure looms in the shadows behind. Jim Calafiore's cover art captures the gritty, brick-and-iron atmosphere of Gotham's criminal underworld beautifully, all menace and shadow with "The Ticking Clock" suggesting the tension is reaching its peak. With Frank Tieri writing and Calafiore and Jack Purcell on interior art, this is a series that's taken Gotham's street-level crime seriously — and issue eight looks ready to pay that off.