Justice League: Generation Lost #5

Part of DC's 2010 Brightest Day crossover event, Justice League: Generation Lost #5 brings a quietly menacing energy straight from the cover by Tony Harris — a sharp-featured man in black lights a cigarette with a casual lighter, a globe looming behind him and an eerie blue energy swirling at his back. The composition radiates cold, calculating confidence, suggesting someone who views the whole world as his chessboard. With Judd Winick and Keith Giffen steering the story and Aaron Lopresti on interior art, this series was delivering some of 2010's most compelling superhero tension.