Justice League: Generation Lost #15

Part of DC's "Brightest Day" crossover event, this February 2011 issue puts Captain Atom front and center in a genuinely striking cover by Dustin Nguyen — rendered almost entirely in stark black and white, with blood-red accents on the hero's clenched fists and the word "MURDERER" scrawled dramatically across the wall behind him. A shadowy, ghostly silhouette looms at his back, and a "WANTED" poster bearing his name adds to the sense that the hero is facing a very public reckoning. Judd Winick's script, brought to life interiorly by Joe Bennett, Jack Jadson, and Ruy José, promises the kind of tension that makes Generation Lost such a compelling chapter in this era of DC storytelling.