Maverick #7

Issue #7 of Marvel's Maverick series delivers a gut-punch of tension on a cover penciled by Jim Cheung and inked by Andrew Pepoy — Maverick, in his yellow-and-gray battle suit, cradles an unconscious blonde figure amid a sea of scorching orange flame, his face twisted in anguish. Looming above them both is a grinning, fire-wreathed threat that radiates menace from every corner of the composition. With a story titled "Desperate Moments," this 1998 issue makes abundantly clear that the stakes for Maverick couldn't be much higher.