Maximum Security #2

Part 2 of 3 in Marvel's Maximum Security event, "A World of Hurt" brings together a remarkable assembly of heroes against a startling threat: the cover, penciled by Jerry Ordway, shows the Thing, the Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, and the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four alongside Iron Man, all battling a massive, tentacled, eerily face-like creature whose writhing appendages engulf a city street while trapped civilians cower nearby. The tagline "Earth: The Living Planet!" sets the unsettling stakes perfectly, and Ordway's chaotic, kinetic composition — heroes firing blasts and grappling with coiling tendrils in every direction — sells the sense that Earth itself has become the enemy. Written by Kurt Busiek, this 2000 crossover chapter promises Marvel's finest with their backs firmly against the wall.