Hardware #44

Hardware #44 brings Milestone's armored hero into a crossover billed "Heroes of Two Worlds," and the cover by Prentis Rollins makes a strong case for the scale of what's at stake. A massive, chain-bound armored figure dominates the upper half of the image, looming over a crowded foreground cast that includes a fierce blonde woman in a dark bodysuit, a glowing-eyed young figure channeling energy, a hulking stone-skinned brute, a mysterious inset portrait with a starburst face, and a pink-suited armed figure in the background. With writer Joseph Illidge steering the story titled "Closure," this 1996 issue feels like a convergence of forces — the kind of cover that promises a lot of characters colliding in one place.