New Avengers #15

Tied into Marvel's Fear Itself event, this 2011 installment of New Avengers leads with a cover by Mike Deodato Jr. that is genuinely striking in its urgency — a desperate woman clutching a small child races through a landscape engulfed in fiery, golden chaos, one arm outstretched as if reaching for safety or pushing danger away. The raw emotion on her face and the inferno consuming the trees behind her give the image a human weight that stands apart from typical superhero fare. Brian Michael Bendis and Deodato make a strong creative pairing here, and Rain Beredo's warm, scorched color palette makes the threat feel immediate and inescapable.