Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #12

This June 1990 issue kicks off "The Hydra Affair" three-part arc with a cover by Michael Bair and Kim DeMulder that means business — Nick Fury stands front and center in full tactical gear, cigar clenched in his teeth and a heavy rifle raised, while three supporting figures flank him: a woman in a fur-trimmed coat, a crouching red-suited agent armed with a crossbow-style weapon, and a dark-haired woman in a red bodysuit holding a pistol. The whole ensemble stands atop a field of skulls with an eerie, serpentine Hydra motif coiling in the background, setting an appropriately tense mood for the espionage trouble ahead.