New Avengers: Illuminati #4

The penultimate issue of this 2007 Marvel limited series puts five formidable women front and center — a silver-armored figure wielding a staff, a dark-haired warrior with gold facial markings and a pistol, a blonde, a silver-haired woman in purple, and a red-haired figure in a mask — all rendered with striking precision in Jim Cheung and Mark Morales's cover art. The assembled group projects a cool, unified intensity that makes it clear the Illuminati aren't the only power players in the Marvel Universe. With Bendis and Reed at the helm, issue four of five promises the kind of sharp, layered storytelling this series has delivered throughout.