Kingdom Come #1

Alex Ross's painted cover for this 1996 DC Elseworlds series sets an immediately unsettling tone — a cloaked, glowing central figure stands amid a densely packed crowd of heroes and villains rendered in Ross's signature hyperrealistic style, including a jester-costumed figure, a red-and-gold armored warrior, and an array of grotesque and powerful faces pressing in from all sides. The contrast between that eerily radiant figure at center and the chaos surrounding him hints at a world where the line between champion and threat has grown genuinely blurry. Mark Waid and Alex Ross launch "Strange Visitor" here, and from the very first image it's clear this Elseworlds tale has serious, considered things to say about heroism.