Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #4

Stuart Immonen's cover for issue #4 puts "The Captain (Not Really a Captain of Anything)" front and center — a blue-rendered, trench-coated bruiser with a star on his chest, arms crossed and expression thoroughly unimpressed, while red stars orbit his sneaker-clad feet like a cosmic punchline. The bold graphic design, mixing retro color blocks with a ghostly silhouette in the background, perfectly captures the irreverent energy Warren Ellis and Immonen brought to Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. in 2006. If you like your superhero comics self-aware and visually inventive, this one's hard to pass up.