Robin #52

Part of DC's sprawling 1998 "Cataclysm" crossover event, this issue drops Robin headlong into a Gotham City shattered by disaster — and the cover, inked by Terry Austin over Jason Johnson's pencils, captures that tension perfectly. Robin lunges forward in full costume, cape billowing dramatically, against a backdrop of crumbling buildings and a sky choked with smoke and red haze, a travel-stickered bag clutched in one hand — suggesting he's racing back to a city in crisis. Writer Chuck Dixon and artist Staz Johnson carry the story, making this a compelling chapter in one of 1998's most ambitious Batman-universe storylines.