Green Arrow #17

This is where Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's celebrated New 52 run begins, and the cover signals the shift in tone immediately — a rain-soaked, battle-hardened Green Arrow crouches against a backdrop of fire and twisted wreckage, bow drawn and expression set like flint. Sorrentino's cover art gives Oliver Queen a raw, stripped-down intensity that feels miles away from polished superheroics. "The Kill Machine Part 1" promises something grittier and more personal, and this 2013 issue makes that promise loud and clear.