Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja #9

Cold War tension crackles right on the cover of this February 1990 Marvel entry, where a white-haired American agent in a stars-and-stripes uniform and a sharp-eyed Soviet operative in a red CCCP suit stand back-to-back — armed and clearly unconvinced by the word "partners." Ron Wagner and Dan Green's cover composition says everything with that wry exchange of speech bubbles: "Partners?" / "Not quite." Larry Hama's series continues delivering spy-thriller edge with a story titled "Level 1, Extra Lives, 0," promising the kind of high-stakes intrigue that made Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja one of Marvel's more distinctive late-'80s action titles.