Nova #24

Tied into Marvel's War of Kings crossover, this 2009 issue of Nova throws Richard Rider headlong into conflict with the Imperial Guard — and the cover by Daniel Acuña makes the stakes immediately clear. A blue-skinned Guardian warrior surges forward fists-first in dramatic red-and-gold armor, while Nova himself is caught in the thick of a crackling, lightning-charged melee as the Guard swarms in the background. Writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with artist Andrea DiVito, were delivering some of Marvel's most thrilling cosmic storytelling at this moment, and "This World & the Next" looks like no exception.