Kick-Ass #5

From Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., this fifth issue puts its new Kick-Ass in an achingly tense situation: battered, bloodied, and in her green costume, she stands cornered with guns leveled at her from both sides while a small child — backpack still on — reaches out toward her in the chaos. The cover art by Romita Jr. and Steigerwald captures the raw, street-level stakes that define this series, where being a hero means absorbing punishment and still planting yourself between danger and the innocent. It's a quietly gut-punch of an image that makes turning to the next issue feel genuinely urgent.