Invincible #81

Surrounded by crackling lightning and churning storm clouds, Invincible faces off against a red-jacketed, blonde-haired figure in a dramatic aerial standoff that Ryan Ottley renders with real kinetic charge. The two combatants hang suspended in a swirling vortex of green-tinged energy, fists clenched and expressions locked in mutual defiance. Robert Kirkman's long-running Image series was hitting its stride in 2011, and covers like this one make it easy to see why it earned the right to call itself "The Best Superhero Comic Book in the Universe.