Mutant X #8

This May 1999 Marvel issue drops readers into a scene of raw, desperate tension — cover artist Michael Golden renders a blue-and-gold suited hero firing a concentric energy blast while shielding a frightened child, all beneath the looming, glowing eyes of a massive, otherworldly entity surrounded by writhing organic forms. The creative team of Howard Mackie, Cary Nord, and Andrew Pepoy delivers this alternate-reality series at a genuinely gripping point, with the ominous story title "The Reign of the Queen!" promising power struggles to match the chaos on that striking cover.