Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #42

The tagline "From the Ashes!" sets the tone for this December 1992 entry in Nick Fury's long-running S.H.I.E.L.D. saga — and the cover by John Heebink and Mike Manley delivers with real force. Fury, cigar clamped between his teeth and armed to the hilt, grapples hand-to-hand with a green-and-yellow-costumed opponent, while an enormous, unsettling face looms behind them both, its hollow red eyes suggesting something far more dangerous lurking in the background. With writer Greg Wright steering "The Past Recalled," this issue promises the kind of globe-spanning intrigue that keeps S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest perpetually looking over his shoulder.