New Exiles #17

A young woman in gleaming silver armor dominates this 2009 Marvel cover, her gauntleted fist crackling with brilliant golden energy as she reaches toward the reader — confident, powerful, and impossible to ignore. Discarded at her feet lies what appears to be an Iron Man-style helmet, hinting at a story in full swing under Chris Claremont's pen. Alex Garner's painted cover work gives the whole image a sleek, almost cinematic glow that makes New Exiles #17 genuinely hard to put back on the shelf.