Secret Empire #9

As the penultimate chapter of Marvel's 2017 Secret Empire event, this issue arrives with a cover by Mark Brooks that crackles with cold-weather intensity — Black Panther lunges forward in his vibranium suit while Winter Soldier and a sword-wielding masked figure clash behind him amid a snowstorm, with looming mechanical structures darkening the sky. It's a striking lineup of heavy hitters that signals the resistance is pushing hard toward a desperate endgame. Writer Nick Spencer and a robust artistic team including Leinil Francis Yu, Rod Reis, and Joe Bennett bring the sprawling saga to the brink of its conclusion.