Loki: Agent of Asgard #12

Perched atop a grotesque mound of skulls against a stormy grey sky, an older, scarred Loki — horned helmet, fur-trimmed coat, bloodied grin — dangles a younger figure dressed in green by the scruff, the contrast between the two versions of the trickster god both unsettling and darkly compelling. Lee Garbett's cover for this 2015 issue sells the tension of the series' title — Loki: Agent of Asgard — with striking economy, letting the imagery do the heavy lifting. Al Ewing and Garbett have crafted a series that takes Loki's complicated mythology seriously, and issue #12's cover promises that the story's stakes have never felt more personal.