Nightwing #99

Penultimate tension runs high in Nightwing #99 (January 2005), with a cover by Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens that pulls no punches: a bald, powerfully built villain clutches a bloodied Nightwing in a crushing grip, the hero's signature blue costume torn and stained as a spreading pool of red tells its own grim story. A looming grandfather clock and a giant bat-symbol silhouette set the stage behind the tagline "Night of the Bullet!" — promising that writer Devin Grayson's "Back to the Life" arc is heading somewhere dark and desperate. With interior art by Zach Howard and inks by Andy Owens, this one lands just one issue before the milestone #100, making the stakes on that cover feel very real.