Kickers, Inc. #10

"Deadly Force" in Kickers, Inc. #10 (1987) finds the team on a high-stakes mission to free two civilian pilots held by Colonel Vargas, the ruthless ruler of the Caribbean island of San Leandro. Written by Adam S. Blaustein and illustrated by Rod Whigham with inks by Tony DeZuniga and colors by John Wellington, the story takes a sharp turn when the rescued pilots are revealed to be military personnel whose stealth bomber crashed on the island—part of a covert U.S. operation that used the Kickers as unwitting agents. The cover, by Mark Texeira and Kevin Nowlan, captures the tension of the mission in striking detail.